JSNN building receives excellence award

Joint School building on the south campus of the Gateway University Research Park.

Congratulations to the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering — its brand-new building has been honored with the Star Award as 2012′s most outstanding new construction project in North Carolina.

The award is presented annually by the Construction Professionals Network of North Carolina.  The JSNN building won in the over $20 million category.  The other category, under $20 million, also was won by a Greensboro project, the International Civil Rights Center and Museum.

Projects are selected on their merits and challenges.  Criteria include the project’s outcome, overall project management, quality management, cost management, schedule management, project complexity, and innovation and creativity.

Local manufacturing rises, aided by A&T, JSNN

Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering

The News & Record editorializes about the Greensboro Partnership’s 2012 State of the City Report:

“Manufacturing increased its share of Greensboro’s workforce from 11.1 percent in 2009 to 11.5 percent in 2010. At the same time, average pay in that sector rose by 5.3 percent to $54,017.

“This is one of the industry segments economic development leaders have focused on for years, with considerable help from the education community. Programs at GTCC, the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, even Guilford County Schools’ recent decision to place a STEM school — science, technology, engineering and math — at N.C. A&T, are critical efforts to provide skilled workers for a rejuvenated manufacturing sector.”

N.C. A&T spin-off firm Advaero to play a key role in producing super-strong carbon fiber material

This week’s edition of The Business Journal features a front-age article on N.C. A&T spinoff company Advaero Technologies and its role in the production of a new super-strength carbon fiber material:

“Imagine a strip of material one inch wide and one-tenth of an inch thick.  Now imagine a stack of six cars.  Finally, imagine lifting that 30,000-pound stack off the ground with that ribbon of material.  And the material doesn’t break.

“Aerospace manufacturers, defense contractors and others have only been able to imagine a lightweight composite material with that strength, but a new partnership involving N.C. A&T State University spin-off Advaero technologies may help make just such a material available in the near future.”

The article details the role of Advaero’s H-VARTM manufacturing technology in producing a new carbon fiber material designed at Stanford University.  Chomarat, a French textile firm, will manufacture the material.  The company has a facility in Anderson, S.C., but could choose to produce the material in the Triad.  Advaero is located at the Gateway University Research Park’s south campus.

The H-VARTM (Heated Vacuum-Assisted Resin Transfer Molding) process was developed at N.C. A&T by Dr. Ajit Kelkar and Dr. Ronnie Bolick.  Advaero licenses the technology from the university.

The article appears in the July 15 edition of The Business Journal. It’s also available to subscribers on the newspaper’s website.

Gateway meeting its minority contracting goal

Gateway University Research Park announced today that it is meeting the relatively high goal it set for the use of minority contractors in the construction of the building for the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering.  The project has achieved 27.6 percent minority participation in available contracts, compared to its goal of 25 percent and the state’s minimum requirement of 10 percent.  More details are available here from The Business Journal.

CEO of A&T spin-off wins entrepreneur award

Greg Bowers, CEO of Advaero Technologies, is one of the winners of the 2011 Top Catalyst Entrepreneur Award, presented by Business Leader magazine.  The magazine announced the winners Wednesday.  Advaero produces low-cost, high-quality composite materials, components, and assemblies to the military, experimental and commercial aircraft industry. The technology was developed by A&T researchers Dr. Ajit Kelkar and Dr. Ron Bolick.

Advaero was founded by Bowers, Kelkar and Bolick.  It is located at the Gateway University Research Park south campus.

The complete list of winners is here.