UWM, Marquette, and MSOE Working Together
The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Marquette University and Milwaukee School of Engineering announced that the universities are collaborating on seven energy technology research projects. These projects are being conducted as part of the Southeastern Wisconsin Energy Technology Research Center, which ties the universities together with local companies, such as Rockwell Automation and WE Energies, to conduct research in the area of energy technology. The initial projects involves green concepts and advanced technologies such as wind turbines, Li-Ion Batteries, CO2 recycling and sequestration via algae, and nanowire thermoelectric materials.
If these efforts grow and there is more interaction between these universities, sharing more than just data, but labs and researchers, it is likely the proposed Wauwatosa site could be a hindrance. The ability to walk out MSOE’s door and quickly into Marquette or UWM’s new research facility just down the block or on a ten minute bus ride would be a time saver, rather than a thirty minute drive to Wauwatosa . Better yet, with this clustering, the possibility of the building of shared research labs and facilities, is a possibility. It is of course possible to collaborate over the web, email, or phone, but the value of working in the same lab, debating around the “water cooler,” or sketching out ideas on a whiteboard is invaluable, all of which would be better accommodated if the university research facilities were located in close proximity to each other.
Wouldn’t a cluster of UWM, Marquette, and MSOE in downtown Milwaukee all working together on energy research and green technologies just make sense?
As Michael Lovell is quoted, (http://www.jsonline.com/business/54868122.html), Milwaukee would continue to lose out on the ability to compete for federal research dollars if not for the scale provided by this collaboration. With $200M+ in planned Milwaukee area investments in engineering facilities between Marquette and UWM, furthering this collaboration with a shared research facility (http://discovery.wisc.edu/discovery), or facilities in close proximity, would go a long way towards making public/private research a permanent fixture in Milwaukee:
Southeastern Wisconsin Research Center:
– Energy Technology
– Advanced Manufacturing
– Water Technology
– BioMedical
– etc.