[049] MTSU Aerospace, ISR Group to Sign Agreement Friday

Release date: Aug. 19, 2010


News & Public Affairs contact: Tom Tozer, 615-898-2919 or ttozer@mtsu.edu
Aerospace contact: Dr. Wayne Dornan, 615-898-2788 or wdornan@mtsu.edu
ISR Group contact: Bob Boggan, 731-926-4188 or bboggan@isrgroup.com

MTSU Aerospace, ISR Group to Sign Agreement Friday
Partnership Relates to Unmanned Aerial Systems Research, Training, Education

(MURFREESBORO) — MTSU’s nationally ranked aerospace department and Savannah, Tenn.-based ISR Group will sign a memorandum of understanding to create a Center of Excellence in Unmanned Aerial Systems research, training and education, officials from both organizations announced.
The signing will be held Friday, Aug. 20, at 10 a.m. in the Business and Aerospace Building’s first-floor east lobby area. Events will start at 9 a.m. with a welcome by new MTSU Provost Dr. Brad Bartel, remarks by President Sidney A. McPhee, ISR Group CEO Alfred Lumpkin and others.
ISR Group is the leading provider of unmanned aircraft system training services, said Dr. Wayne Dornan, the aerospace department chair.
“We couldn’t be more delighted with this partnership,” Dornan added.
“We are extremely proud of our aerospace program, and this is a great leap forward to propelling it to the leading edge of contemporary aeronautical science,” McPhee said. “This is consistent with MTSU’s Academic Master Plan, which promotes education and research through internal and external collaboration”
MTSU Flight Operations Center representatives will fly the ISR Group officials to Murfreesboro from Savannah Friday morning. A static display of a full-size scan eagle (UAS) will be on display at the signing, Dornan said.
“We are excited about this partnership with MTSU,” said Bob Boggan, ISR executive vice president. “In conjunction with MTSU, ISR Group is focused on developing a Center of Excellence for unmanned technology in this region of the country. By leveraging state, academic, and private business, we have created a powerful combination that brings tremendous value to the unmanned market and to the southeastern U.S. The unmanned market is growing rapidly and is attracting investment as well as talented, knowledgeable people. 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 unmanned market.”
ISR Group owns a 10-square-mile UAS flight training range in Hardin County. In order for ISR Group to test UAVs, they need MTSU to sponsor certificates of authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration, Dornan said.
“We’ll be the only institution in the mid-south to have anything like this,” Dornan said of the proposed collaborative program in UAS within the aerospace program, which is considered one of the best in the country.
The ISR Group employs highly skilled professionals in support of research and development, testing and evaluation, production, operations, maintenance, training and logistical support activities of UAS on a worldwide basis.
As MTSU and the aerospace department pursue a new concentration in unmanned aerial systems, IRS Group has agreed to provide equipment, personnel and an opportunity for MTSU students to spend time in Savannah flying the unmanned vehicles, Dornan said.
“ISR and MTSU will begin to create a new curriculum and explore the possibility of adding a new multi-disciplinary concentration in aerospace of UAS,” Dornan said. “UAVs will become part of our reality in the next decade, and one of the major questions is how will these UAVs safely fly among general aviation and commercial aircraft in the national airspace.
“We will work with ISR and our ITT partners to design a UAS that will replace the human in the aircraft, but still be safe in the national air space. This new concentration will attract a new kind of student. Today’s generation of kids love computer games, simulation and virtual reality. This would be a perfect concentration for them.”
The aerospace chair said students who graduate from this program would be able to operate a UAS.
“And this is very important,” Dornan said, “because of the widespread application of the UAS: agriculture, fisheries, law enforcement, forestry, to name a few. In the next 10 years, there will be a verifiable explosion of the UAS in our country, and our students will have the expertise to operate these systems.”

About MTSU
Nearing its Centennial celebration, Middle Tennessee State University sits on 515 acres, has 137 permanent buildings (not including rentals; farm, airport or foundation buildings and others) and is part of the Tennessee Board of Regents system. Academically, MTSU features nine colleges and nearly 150 degree programs. Eight bachelor’s degrees are offered while the College of Graduate Studies confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, a Specialist in Education degree and the Doctor of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degree. It houses three Centers of Excellence (Historic Preservation, Popular Music and the Tennessee Center for the Study and Treatment of Dyslexia). There are nine Chairs of Excellence, funded with a mix of state and private monies, to bring leaders in their fields to MTSU. The MTSU Foundation endows two chairs (Tommy Martin Chair of Insurance and Jack Weatherford Chair of Finance). MTSU was ranked 57th among the best public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey and the 47th best buy.

About MTSU Aerospace
MTSU’s Department of Aerospace, housed in both the Business and Aerospace Building on campus and Flight Operations Center at Murfreesboro Airport, is considered one of the elite programs nationally and one of the university’s signature programs. The program, established in 1942, includes 14 full-time faculty, 35 flight instructors and more than 750 students majoring in any of five concentrations (professional pilot, flight dispatch, maintenance management, administration and technology. Through efforts by the state of Tennessee, MTSU’s administration and department leaders, the program has remained on the cutting edge in technology and has one of the most modern fleets of planes as a training ground for current and future graduates working all across the U.S. and abroad.

About ISR Group
Headquartered in Savannah, Tenn. (Hardin County), ISR Group owns five facilities in and near the town. It is a leading provider of unmanned aircraft system services and support to customers worldwide. Full life cycle support solutions include training systems, technical services, logistics and depot level maintenance and range facilities. Other strengths include a strong customer base, multi-platform experience and a highly skilled workforce with exceptional technical capabilities. Of its 200-plus employees, more than 85 percent are cleared to perform classified projects. It has the largest privately owned range facility in the U.S. It has partnerships with Boeing, Northrop Grumman the Department of Defense and others.

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Media welcomed.

Note: ISR Group officials are expected to have an unmanned aerial systems vehicle on display at the signing. Attached is a high-resolution jpeg of a scan eagle. For more information, please contact Tom Tozer in MTSU News and Public Affairs by calling 615-898-2919 or e-mail ttozer@mtsu.edu.



With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, Middle Tennessee State University confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey.

For MTSU news and information, go to mtsunews.com.