Newswise — A partnership between Middle Tennessee State University and ISR Group will create a new unmanned Center of Excellence in Tennessee, providing a hands-on training ground for MTSU students, attracting industry and knowledge-based workers to Tennessee and generating permanent jobs that cannot be exported to other countries. Principal players say the collaboration is unique to the southeastern United States and will one day wield global influence. MTSU officials signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Aug. 20 with ISR Group, a Savannah, Tenn.-based provider of Unmanned Aircraft System, or UAS, services. ISR, whose four divisions are Technical Services, Logistics and Depot, Training Systems and Range Services, assists clients in developing unmanned-vehicle technologies for air-, ground- and water-based systems. Through this collaboration, MTSU’s Department of Aerospace, considered among the top three programs of its kind in the nation, will be able to expand its teaching and research and be on the ground floor of an industry that officials say is on the verge of a growth “tsunami.” “There could not be a better fit,” MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee said of the partnership. “I can promise you as president … that we will do our part, led by our outstanding faculty, to make this one of the most successful partnerships that will benefit our citizens.” “This Center of Excellence is huge not only for Tennessee but for the Southeast,” added ISR Group CEO Alfred Lumpkin. “What more perfect place to train these future knowledge-based workers than MTSU? It’s a great day for us.”
ISR Group employs highly skilled professionals in support of research and development, testing and evaluation, production, operations, maintenance, training and logistical-support activities of Unmanned Aircraft Systems on a worldwide basis. The company owns a 10-square-mile flight-training range in Hardin County, Tenn. To increase ISR Group’s capability to operate and test unmanned aerial vehicles, MTSU has agreed to sponsor Certificates of Authorization via the Federal Aviation Administration. “MTSU has committed to sponsoring FAA certification, and ISR is making some significant commitments,” said Dr. Mike Allen, dean of MTSU’s College of Graduate Studies, who first brought the university and ISR Group together. Allen noted that MTSU is one of the project team members on a recent FAA System Engineering 2020 contract valued at $1.4 billion with ITT, a White Plains, N.Y.-based high-technology engineering and manufacturing company. “And now you’re part of this ITT contract,” Allen said, referring to ISR Group. “This collaboration could have significant impact on next-generation communication systems for UAVs.” “Those universities and businesses that are able to catch the vision and see where the trend is going and arrive at the right spot at the right time are going to be the winners,” said Bob Boggan, executive vice president in charge of business development for ISR Group.
“Tennessee has the right business environment, and the MTSU/ISR Group team has the right strategy to capture business and attract talented people to our state. Our ultimate goal is to develop a leading position in the southeast United States in the unmanned market.” Dr. Wayne Dornan, chair of MTSU’s Department of Aerospace, emphasized the importance of the university being on the ground floor of the burgeoning unmanned-flight industry. “This will give us a wonderful opportunity to expand our collaborative teaching and research,” Dornan said. “MTSU will play a major research role on the new air-transportation system in the United States that will change radically in the next 20 years. “To say ‘the sky’s the limit’ is a little premature,” he continued. “We are really in a situation that we don’t know how to integrate unmanned aerial vehicles into the national airspace system. MTSU will be involved in those planning stages. MTSU’s Department of Aerospace will take the lead in education in this arena. I’m proud of this partnership.”
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