Academic alliances would be strong draw for Space Command

Like many others, we weren’t surprised when Offutt Air Force Base was named as one of six finalists to become the permanent home ofU.S. Space Command.

There’s an “it factor” in the Midwest thatmakes our states the best places to live, do business and grow. The quality of life is unmatched, the commitment to our military and education is strong, and we know how to work together to get things done efficiently and effectively.

All these things make the Midwest, and Nebraska in particular, a strong draw for the Department of Defense as it considers where to locate its newest unified combatant command.

But there’s another factor that makes the Heartland uniquely qualified to host our nation’s growing and increasingly complex space mission: The shared commitment of our public universities to putting our combined expertise and resources to work to meet the academic, technology and workforce needs of U.S. Space Command.

As presidents of four diverse Midwestern public universities – all foundedwith a mission to teach, do research and conduct outreach for the greater good – we’re in close contact about our opportunities to collaborate in support of the space mission.

We agree our institutions are primed to form a Higher Education Space Research andWorkforce Alliance, a first-of-its-kind, multi-state, multi-university partnership dedicated to supporting U.S. Space Command as it works to navigate, protect and defend our nation’s vital space assets.

Through this new academic alliance, we will:

■ Work with U.S. Space Command to define current and futureworkforceneeds.

Develop joint degree programs, certificates, courses and pipeline opportunities between universities that will allow us to be nimble in addressing those needs.

■ Form a working group of our technology transfer leads to create a “one-stop shop” for U.S. Space Command to quickly bring the research innovations of our faculty to market.

Create a database of researchers in space-related fields to enhance collaboration and allow U.S. Space Command to quickly assess our combined capabilities.

Ouruniversities havenumerous existing strengths on which to build this alliance.

The institutions the four of us oversee enroll some 163,000 students, many of them in top-ranked engineering, space law, aerospace studies, cybersecurity and information technology programs well-suited to theU.S. Space Command mission.

Our research programs, too, are wellpositioned to partner with U.S. Space Command. We’ve proven we knowhowto deliver in support of our men and women in uniform: Nebraska is home to one of only 14 University-Affiliated Research Centers in the country conducting exclusive research for the Department of Defense, and the only one sponsored by a unified combatant command.

Nebraska’s UARC, the National Strategic Research Institute, has just been renewed with a $92 million federal contract, and in fact U.S. Space Command is already in contact with NSRI about urgent research projects. The research can’t wait for a new headquarters to be up and running. The opportunity is ripe to stand up a new UARC in the Midwest solely dedicated toU.S. Space Command.

And theMidwest offers a connection for U.S. Space Command that no other site under consideration can: A direct tie to the Big Ten Academic Alliance, the premier academic coalition in the United States that yields many of the nation’s most groundbreaking research discoveries.

Midwestern institutions know how to work together to achieve results. We share expertise and ideas through the Midwestern Higher Education Compact, a 12-state coalition focused on educational outcomes and cost-sharing opportunities.

A key initiative of the coalition is support for military learners through programs that ease the transition from military life to college to employment, as well as credit equivalency programs that ensure our service members can earn appropriate academic credit for their training and experience.

Now, we in the Midwest are ready, willing and better positioned than any other academic coalition in the country to again join forces to meet our nation’s urgent and complex defense needs.

We are committed to support this mission. In our view, the Heartland is the right home forU.S. Space Command.

Retired Vice Adm. Ted Carter is a former Naval Academy superintendent who now serves as president of the University of Nebraska System. Mitch Daniels is president of Purdue University, Mark Hagerott is the chancellor of the North Dakota University System and Richard Myers the president of Kansas StateUniversity.