ST. LOUISÌý— The University of Missouri-×îÐÂÐÓ°ÉÔ´´ will open an outpost in the T-Rex tech incubator downtown in order to better collaborate with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the companies it works with.
The new center,ÌýNational Security and Community Policy Collaborative, willÌýoperate in theÌýÌýon the fourth floor of T-Rex.Ìý
UMSL hiredÌýRobert Ubbelohde, a retired 32-year-veteran of NGA, in April to build the new center and serve as its founding director. The UMSL collaborative will be part of the College of Arts and Sciences and also work withÌýdepartments such as computer science to develop certificate courses in geospatial sciences.Ìý
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Ubbelohde plans to hire a graduate assistant and establish an affiliate faculty program with a fellow embedded at T-REX. UMSL will seek grants to help it eventually expand the staff to include a research director, a geospatial analyst and resident fellows or post-doctoral researchers.
NGA, which is building a $1.75 billion western headquarters just north of downtown, announced last week it would build out space on the third floor of T-Rex. The new space, dubbed "Moonshot Labs," will house 60 to 70 people so they can better collaborate with private sector companies on new innovations.
T-Rex's Geospatial Innovation Center last year hired as directorÌýMark Tatgenhorst, who spent 33 years working at the NGA. ×îÐÂÐÓ°ÉÔ´´ University has also launched a dedicated Geospatial Institute. Civic groups have also published a plan to guide the region's efforts at growing its geospatial sector.
