THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 29, 1996 TAG: 9608280120
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Business
SOURCE: By KATRICE FRANKLIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 50 lines
The Virginia Modeling and Simulation Center, touted as an economic engine for Hampton Roads, moves closer to reality each day.
Old Dominion University officials no longer speak of it in terms of ``What if. . . ?'' They're going around Hampton Roads talking about what will be.
The center will work closely with the new Joint Training Analysis and Simulation Center, where the military uses computers, models and simulators to develop, test and study war operations. JTASC is near Tidewater Community College, in northern Suffolk.
The new state center will help industries use clones of military technology in their daily practices. ODU also will teach the simulation and start a graduate studies program in the next two to three years.
Last week, Roland Mielke, an ODU engineering professor, told a group of Hampton Roads business owners that the center will be the magnet to create large business centers here.
Mielke was guest speaker of the Tidewater Association of Service Contractors. The non-profit organization is made up of business owners who band together to watch legislative actions that affect industry. They also stay apprised of new businesses opening in the area.
``In five to seven years, we expect to attract $180 million in economic development,'' Mielke said. He said a director will be hired in the next two weeks.
ODU will also be signing a contract in the next few weeks finalizing an agreement between the university and the military center.
It is also finalizing plans to move into a Suffolk building. Mielke said the city has said that it will allow the university to lease a building for $1 a year and pay for the utilities.
ODU wants a building in the vicinity of the former General Electric plant so it can be close to the military installation, just south of the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel.
Suffolk has also promised $10,000 for an in-depth marketing and economic-impact study. Mielke said the university has narrowed down the consultant search for the study to three.
ODU officials have set aside $500,000 for the next two years to start up the new center. The money is enough to hire a director and begin the first project - a simulation of the Hampton Roads port system. The goal is to find out what resources the port needs to handle traffic flow that is expected to triple by the year 2000.
The center had been in jeopardy after it did not receive money for the state project. University officials will ask the General Assembly for funds again next year. by CNB