From improved varieties of wheat to new kinds of lasers, faculty
at Montana State University shared their ideas for new products
and industries with Lt. Gov. Karl Ohs Tuesday, March 20, during
an all-day tour of campus and the Advanced Technology Park in
Bozeman.
Ohs and his chief advisor, Steve Snezek, heard about studies of
bacteria that could lead to new kinds of antibiotics. They
smelled flasks of microbes from Yellowstone National Park that
may yield enzymes for industrial processes. They listened to
students talk about their independent projects in an optics
laboratory, and they walked through a greenhouse where breeders
are growing promising new lines of wheat and peas.
Ohs will oversee Gov. Judy Martz's economic development efforts
and is visiting university campuses to learn about projects that
relate to those goals, according to MSU spokesperson Cathy
Conover.
Tech Ranch, for example, is a new business incubator designed to
give software and e-commerce companies a start in Montana.
Already seven "Silicon Valley-type" entrepreneurs have been
invited to join the incubator, where they will have a year to 18
months to establish their businesses and expand outside the
incubator, said Tech Ranch director John O'Donnell.
"The incubator idea is really hot right now," O'Donnell said. "A
lot of states are getting involved" in them.
Ohs said the state has a competitive advantage in the high-tech
sector owing to a lifestyle that attracts entrepreneurs.
"The answer to rural economic development is to establish a beach
head idea," Ohs said. "Bring in high-tech businesses that we can
attract with lifestyle" and then grow around those business
clusters, he said.
Many of the projects Ohs heard about relate to the state's
traditional industries. TechLink, for example, organized a
remote-sensing project last summer for improved wheat production
in the Golden Triangle. The project incorporated technology
developed by NASA.
Finding space agency and other federal technologies that may be
useful to Montana and other regional companies is what TechLink
does, explained director Will Swearingen.
Steve Holland of the Montana Manufacturing Extension Center at
MSU said his center exists to help the state's 2,400
manufacturers become more competitive. An independent survey
showed that 304 jobs in the state have been created or saved in
the last two years as a result of the center's efforts, Holland
said.
MSU wheat breeder Luther Talbert led Ohs on a tour of greenhouses
and labs where new plant varieties are under constant
development. Montana wheats are among the best in the world,
Talbert said, referring to the results of a recent overseas
evaluation organized by the U.S. Wheat Associates.(See related
story.)
Sixteen millers and bakers around the world judged the 1999 crop
and placed McNeal, a spring wheat, and Rampart, a winter wheat,
at the top, Talbert said. Both varieties were developed at MSU
and are grown by Montana producers.
MSU research on laser optics also seems to be well accepted by
industry. One product that came out of the Optical Technology
Center at MSU helped a Montana company grow by 17 percent in one
year, said OpTeC director Lee Spangler.
OpTeC has 11 faculty and about 25 undergraduates doing research
of interest to the state's optics industry, which grew from $4
million in 1990 to $75 million last year, Spangler said. The
companies hire MSU graduates, and currently there are more jobs
that there are graduates.
That may not matter to right now to Andy Christofferson and John
McAllister, both chemistry majors from Kalispell. Each plans to
join the Peace Corps after graduation to teach science and
mathematics before going to graduate school.
Even so, the freedom to pursue independent research projects
attracted them to the center. McAllister said working in the
center helps him learn because he can use equipment that's not
available in the classroom.
Ohs' last stop was the Center for Biofilm Engineering. Scientists
study bacteria that make a protective covering called biofilm,
now thought to be behind 65 percent of bacterial infections in
developed countries.
The center works with 22 companies--some as large as Procter &
Gamble--on finding solutions to biofilms. Recent studies, for
example, are pointing the way toward more effective antibiotics,
said center director Bill Costerton.
--Annette Trinity-Stevens
