Ribbon Cutting Ceremony — Charles W. Steger, Jim Moran, Jim Bohland and Chris Zimmerman

New Virginia Tech Research

Center — Arlington at 900 N. Glebe Rd.

Virginia Tech Research Center — Arlington opened its doors at 900 North Glebe Road in Ballston. The Ballston neighborhood has developed a strong recognized brand as a center of scientific research and development. Arlington welcomes Virginia Tech into that mix, strengthening the foundation. Ballston has the nation's greatest concentration of scientific research agencies including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the Department of Homeland Security and several other top academic research institutes. The ability to collocate within a compact, urban environment has created tremendous synergy and drives limitless ingenuity and innovation.

The value of this collocation was validated in the 2005 BRAC Commission's unanimous decision to keep the DoD's research programs in Arlington, collocated around the NSF, to maintain in their words, a "center of excellence".

The collocation was further validated through a significant contribution in funding by the Commonwealth of Virginia for the retention of DARPA in a new headquarters building at 675 N. Randolph St. and through the funding of a new Virginia Tech Research Center. University officials selected the location for its proximity to the National Science Foundation and other research organizations.

In close proximity to government agencies and other public and private-sector organizations, the location offers great opportunity for partnerships with corporate research entities. At the recent ribbon cutting ceremony, Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger said that in exploring location options for the research center, "We determined unequivocally that this is where we wanted to be."

For more, read the full story.