Mainebiz

V O L . X X I I N O. X X V O C T O B E R 3 1 , 2 0 1 6 32 U niversity of Southern Maine is raising money for a pro- gram that it says would off er key insights on Maine's infrastructure needs while creating job opportunities. e Critical Infrastructure Institute, as the entity would be known, is being created to face the state's need for new and updated bridges, roads and water systems. USM hopes to act as a think tank, making recommendations, while training students to play a role in upgrading vital infrastructure. e project, now in the exploratory phase, would have a "heavy empha- sis on workforce development for industry professionals," George N. Campbell Jr., USM's foundation pres- ident and vice president of advance- ment, wrote in an email to Mainebiz. "We anticipate [a launch in] January 2018, depending on the market, both students and professionals, and market demand for alternative project delivery and fi nance experience in both public- private sectors," he adds. us far, USM has spent $176,000 to study the feasibility of the pro- gram. About half of the funding has come from the Maine Economic Improvement Team, a program of the University of Maine System, while the balance has been split between federal, state and private sources. e largest expense, $130,000, is earmarked for the Wathen Group for consulting, according to a USM document provided to Mainebiz. e formation of the Critical Infra- structure Institute may be well timed. Maine's infrastructure is due for an upgrade, according to a 2012 report by the American Society of Civil Engineers, which gave the state a C- in its most recent state-by-state assessment. Maine ranked only slightly better than the nation's average grade of D+. e ASCE report takes into account aviation, roads, bridges, dams, energy, ports, education, drinking water systems, wastewater systems, solid waste systems, environmental cleanup, rail, transportation and parks. From the 2012 report, Maine's 35 airports and general aviation system were graded highest, with a B grade. Grades for every other category ranged from C+ (energy, ports, drinking water, parks) to D (roads). An updated ASCE report will be released Nov. 28. Growth in university programs Other universities have taken similar steps to build programs around criti- cal infrastructure, though often with a wider interpretation of infrastruc- ture. e fi eld has grown as the nation spends more money on homeland security, whether it's to defend against terrorists or hackers trying to take down the nation's banking system. ¡ e University of Illinois leads the Critical Infrastructure Resilience Institute, which is made up of a dozen organizations ranging from law enforcement to corporations. It con- ducts research and education to beef up the resiliency of the nation's critical infrastructure. It was funded with a $20 million, fi ve-year grant from the Department of Homeland Security. ¡ In Kentucky, nine universities are part of the Kentucky Homeland Security University Consortium, which "brings the knowledge resources of the state's universi- ties and colleges to a research and development initiative that seeks to expand the spectrum of prod- ucts and services used in home- land security critical infrastructure P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Infrastructure at the heart of a USM initiative Workforce development central to the focus B y P e t e r V a n A l l e n F O C U S P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY George N. Campbell Jr., foundation president at the University of Southern Maine, has been instrumental in the effort to create a Critical Infrastructure Institute at the university.

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