THE NATIONAL OCEANIC and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is one of the newest tenants to sign on with the University of Maryland Enterprise Campus, also known as M Square, a 128-acre research park adjacent to the university near the College Park-University of Maryland Metro station.NOAA plans to build a new multi-million dollar state-of-the-art facility that is specifically designed for climate and weather operational forecasts and related research. "We are excited about the potential in front of us and are expecting great things to happen with the participation of the academic community, specifically the University of Maryland, to improve all weather and climate forecasts," says Louis W. Uccellini, director of the new NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction.
Brian Darmody, the university?s assistant vice president for research and economic development, says that M Square offers the opportunity for the University of Maryland to effectively connect the intellectual capacity of its faculty and graduate students with large and small companies, government laboratories and other specialized centers.
The research park already has 128,000 sq. ft. leased, Darmody says, including the new Center for the Advanced Study of Language, a joint university-Department of Defense project that conducts research in support of the nation?s critical need for increased capabilities to understand and translate languages. At full build-out, it is expected that more than 2.5 million sq. ft. of research space and 6,500 workers will occupy the M Square site.