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University Of Oklahoma Dedicates 35,000 Square Foot, $15 Million Radar Lab

The University of Oklahoma formally dedicated a new, 35,000 square foot Radar Innovations Laboratory Wednesday afternoon.

OU President David Boren says the goal of the facility is to spark innovation of the next generation of radar and microwave electronics.

“As academia works with the private sector, works with government to make things happen, to make the resources to be here, to be possible, what a partnership that can be," Boren said. "What a powerful partnership that can be for the future of our state, and the future of our country."

At least 60 students and 20 faculty members from OU's Advanced Radar Research Center will be housed within the $15 million lab just east of the National Weather Center on OU's southern Research Campus. Ph.D. candidate Jim Kurdzo says the facility is designed to encourage collaboration.

"It's really a combination of meteorology and engineering," Kurdzo said. "We're trying to take the problems that meteorologists are having trouble solving and engineers are having trouble solving, and putting them together to work together to solve new problems for future radar technologies."

The Oklahoman’s Jane Glenn Cannon reports the facility has a two-story-tall glass-encased, simulated tornado and a large television to project continuous images of storms and researchers.

Yet, upstairs in an “idea room,” you might find students and research scientists playing a fast game of pingpong or shooting pool. If it’s a nice day, they might be outside shooting hoops. Great ideas come from collaboration, and collaboration starts with getting to know each other, whether it’s through playing a game together or just sitting over coffee and talking, said Robert Palmer, vice president of research and professor of meteorology. It’s no accident that the “idea room” has a giant, dry erase board on one wall, alongside a sitting area and a flat-screen TV. “They can watch a football game and do math equations at the same time,” he said.

The Association of University Research Parks named OU’s Research Campus the nation’s top research park in 2013, placing it among past honorees such as the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, University City Center in Pennsylvania, and Purdue Research Park in Indiana.

Participants yesterday also recognized the 10th anniversary of the Japanese forecasting company Weathernews moving to Oklahoma.

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Brian Hardzinski is from Flower Mound, Texas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. He began his career at KGOU as a student intern, joining KGOU full time in 2009 as Operations and Public Service Announcement Director. He began regularly hosting Morning Edition in 2014, and became the station's first Digital News Editor in 2015-16. Brian’s work at KGOU has been honored by Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI), the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters, the Oklahoma Associated Press Broadcasters, and local and regional chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists. Brian enjoys competing in triathlons, distance running, playing tennis, and entertaining his rambunctious Boston Terrier, Bucky.
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