The Center for the Commercial Deployment of Transportation Technologies, a Cal State Long Beach research facility, may receive up to $3 million in federal appropriations by mid 2008 – an amount requested and secured last month by Congresswoman Linda Sanchez.
CCDoTT, established in 1995 just before the termination of the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, has a layered affiliation with CSULB, but has involved some students and faculty with its operations.
According to the facility’s charter, CCDoTT aims to improve the national transportation infrastructure, while keeping a “near-term focus” on port and port-related traffic efficiency.
CCDoTT’s charter also states that it “will work closely with southern California’s transportation-related industries to develop university, industry, and government partnerships to perform specific projects that benefit the university, its students and the community.”
CSULB engineering students may directly obtain internships and research opportunities through the program.
Kenneth James, a Cal State Long Beach computer science and electrical engineering professor who assigns student internships and is a CCDoTT technical coordinator, said if the appropriation reached campus, it would definitely provide students with more internships and research prospects.
“Although the funding is in a premature stage and the appropriation is somewhat broad,” James said, “student involvement will certainly be incorporated into any new developments that result from this.”
Sanchez, representing the 39th Congressional District – which encompasses only a small portion of Long Beach but a large portion of inland port traffic – initially requested the funding on an environmental platform.
“One of the projects I’ve been involved in since I got elected was helping the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach be more environmentally friendly,” Sanchez said, “because the impacts of hauling all the cargo from the port inland, especially the 710 corridor, is really tormenting the environment and the people who live in that corridor.”
Realizing CCDoTT’s potential as a contributor to environmentally focused port improvement projects, Sanchez requested the appropriation for the organization in late July.
As outlined in the anticipated 2008 Defense Appropriations Bill, these funds will be included in the “Research, Development, Test and Evaluation” section”- a $76.2 billion slice of roughly a $450 billion pie.- Pending senate and presidential approval after an August recess, CCDoTT may see $3 million of that defense spending, but the center’s administrators are skeptical that the full amount will find its way to CSULB.
CCDoTT Principal Investigator Stan Wheatley would not comment on how the facility would spend the potential appropriation, primarily because the amount has not been determined.
“$3 million spends a little differently than $1.5 million,” Wheatley said. “It looks good, but until it come out of conference, it’s anybody’s guess.”
Wheatley did say, however, that much of the funding will likely go toward two areas of research at CCDoTT – Agile Ports and High-Speed Ships Technology. Such programs assist the growing ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles to develop responsibly and efficiently.
“Somewhere between hysteria and lethargy, there’s an answer,” Wheatley said. “There’s got to be a faster way to move the stuff, and that’s what we’re working on.”
CCDoTT Program Coordinator Carrie Scoville, although grateful to have Sanchez securing funds for CCDoTT, is also among the skeptics.
“Even if the bill goes through,” Scoville said, “the government takes a portion off the top. Should all those funds be approved, that is not the amount that will come to the campus.”
Sanchez said it may take six to eight months for the bill, if passed, to become a law, permitting CCDoTT to see the final appropriated amount sometime next summer.
