After a small college (us!) began discussions with the federal government about bringing a large and very important special appropriation to the Florida Keys, working diligently and with full energy with all our partners, Director of the John E. Lockwood, Jr. School of Diving and Underwater Technology Bill Chalfant, Dr. Patrick Rice and Dr. Jill Landesberg-Boyle (me) were notified by Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen that the funding they had proposed to receive with Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen’s full forward charge was approved!!
As the college’s director of the James E. Lockwood Jr. School of Diving and Underwater Technology, Chalfant will be one of those in charge of developing a training program the Navy could adopt for its scuba divers, port security and other defense or Homeland Security personnel who perform military and civilian security on the water. “It involves three-dimensional underwater imaging, inertial guidance systems, and developing training procedures for the Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command and other government agencies,” he said.
According to a project summary, the college will take part in:
- Modeling and simulation of natural subsurface environments;
- Diver training with simulated real-world scenarios; and
- Creating a training quality-control process in which new technologies, training methods and simulated environments are continuously upgraded and improved.
Never mind all that. It’s simply unheard of that a small community college should get such a big piece of the defense pie, especially on its first request to the U.S. Govenment Chalfant said.
“It’s an unprecedented amount for a small community college.
The college will share the $2.24 million. The Defense Department and the Navy receive part of the funding which is partnered with the college, as well as Stanford Research Institute and other partners.
Stanford Research Institute was part of Stanford University but is now independent of the school.
“We are especially grateful to Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen for her continued support of the college and the Florida Keys.”
[...] FKCC will share in $2.24 million on Instrumented Underwater Training System (IUTS) earmark. Dr. Jill Landesberg-Boyle working with Bill Chalfant, Dr. Patrick Rice and of course, the honorable Congresswoman [...]
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Pingback by Tweets that mention Dr. Jill Landesberg-Boyle and Team $2.24mil to FKCC « Dr. Jill Landesberg-Boyle -- Topsy.com — December 20, 2009 @ 7:41 pm |
WOW – This is a huge for FKCC’s dive program. Dr. Jill Landesberg-Boyle really has put the FKCC dive program on the map.
Comment by dk — December 20, 2009 @ 7:53 pm |
Excellent news! Congratulations Dr. Jill Landesberg-Boyle!
Comment by Dena — December 20, 2009 @ 9:57 pm |
Excited to see what this will mean for the college and the dive program. FKCC has done an incredible turnaround in the last two years. I think the partnerships with other schools and institutions have been a big part of the success, clearly this will be a significnat partnership with the Navy. Given FKCC’s location it couldn’t make more sense and I’m glad to see the college go in this direction. I want to thank Dr. Jill Landesberg-Boyle and the rest of the team that made this happen. Looking forward to see how the program get’s implemented, please keep posting about it.
Comment by Paul — January 1, 2010 @ 6:06 pm |
Congrats Jill!! I also saw the press release on Ros-Lehtinen’s, site. This is the first federal grant for FKCC right?
Comment by Karen — January 3, 2010 @ 10:51 pm |
Thank you everyone for the great feedback!!
Comment by Dr. Jill Landesberg-Boyle — January 3, 2010 @ 11:07 pm |
Great to see this come in for the college.
Comment by Paul — January 13, 2010 @ 2:03 am |
Very excited to see FKCC in the national spot light, this could not have happened with out you, Dr. Jill Landesberg-Boyle!!
Loved seeing Chalfant’s quote about you on the press release.
Thank you, Dr. Landesberg-Boyle!
Comment by Jill Landesberg-Boyle Fan — January 16, 2010 @ 8:14 pm |
This could never have happened without the leadership and support of Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen. She is truly a leader and a role-model. Her ethics are beyond reproach and she truly cares about both her constituents and our country, at large.
Comment by Jill Landesberg-Boyle — January 17, 2010 @ 2:36 pm |
Dr. Jill Landesberg-Boyle this could not have happened with out your leadership.
Comment by Chris — January 22, 2010 @ 12:43 am |
[...] You can see more about this on the press release on Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s site. or Dr. Jill Landesberg-Boyle’s Blog. [...]
Pingback by Mort45's Blog — January 26, 2010 @ 2:52 am |
[...] Jill Landesberg-Boyle saw this as a unique opportunity to explore opportunities for FKCC to participated in [...]
Pingback by IUTS Earmark Comes to FKCC « Dive Log Blog — January 28, 2010 @ 2:18 am |
I hear the college has already received new equipment as a result of this grant. Equipment that can be used both for course on port security as well as coral reef mapping.
Comment by Jill Landesberg-Boyle Fan — January 29, 2010 @ 5:27 am |
[...] The busiest day of the year was January 12th with 55 views. The most popular post that day was Dr. Jill Landesberg-Boyle and Team $2.24mil to FKCC. [...]
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