-: Welcome back.
Countdown to kickoff here on the Huskers Sports Network.
Homecoming day today for the Big Red
against the Rutger Scarlet Knights
and as we do each and every week, we have a chance
to sit down with University of Nebraska Lincoln Chancellor
Ronny Green who's brought a couple of special guests
with us today, Steve Goddard, the interim Vice-Chancellor
for Research and Economic Development
and Bill Charlton, Associate Vice-Chancellor
for Research with a specialization in defense programs.
Chancellor, I'll begin with you.
We want to talk about some renovations.
An important building on campus that so many fans
pass as they make their way up toward Memorial City.
My understanding, construction's wrapping up.
What can you tell us about this project?
-: Well, you know Greg, we're really fortunate this fall
because we have opened more new facilities
and renovated facilities across the UNL campus
than at any recent time in memory.
As people can recollect, you know,
the new Business building and a number of new buildings
on the East Campus and we've now come to a close
of the renovation of Behlen Hall
which as you said people walk past on Stadium Drive
as they're walking up to Memorial Stadium,
a long time part of our campus since the mid-1960's,
named after Mr. Behlen, Walter Behlen
of Behlen Manufacturing, a big Nebraska well known company
based out of Columbus, that was constructed originally
as the research building for our Department of Physics
that was originally housed in Brace Hall
next door to it, connected to it.
So when we relocated our Physics department
to Jorgenson Hall now on campus a few years ago
it gave us the opportunity to renovate
both of those facilities.
Brace Hall has been turned into an instructional building
on our campus and Behlen Hall we've been working
on renovating for some time to house Defense Department
related research that our guests
are going to tell us about today.
So very excited to see that project coming to a close,
to further build our research capacity
at the university.
-: Steve Goddard I'll go to you next.
What about the challenges of trying to renovate a building
while continuing the research,
a lot of it goes to the Department of Defense.
That has to be a fine line to walk.
-: It's an extreme challenge.
We've got a laser laboratory in the basement
of Behlen Hall and the entire time we were doing
the renovation, we were trying
to do research in that basement.
So you can imagine the impact.
It's very sensitive equipment and so vibrations
create problems, dust, we have to try and keep that down.
It's extended out through renovation period.
We've had to shut down or pause the projects on occasion,
but of course that is a huge impact.
We've got contracts with the Department of Defense,
research grants with the National Science Foundation
and so it has a big impact, but it's important work
and we're trying to keep it going the entire time.
-: And, obviously renovations, as the Chancellor pointed out,
Steve, is that building's fairly old.
You have to try to keep up with the times
and add some new amenities to it as well, right?
-: That's right, that's right Greg,
so we've had to redesign, trying--
Originally that building was constructed
in what was called Brutalism from what was popular
in the 1960s, not so much in the Midwest.
And if you've walked by it, you've seen that,
but that also meant we tried to make it look a little nicer,
move some of the HVAC around, get some more space
on the interior of the building
so that we have better office space on the first level
and we actually, it's a rather secure building
so that we've moved the windows up in the first level
so that we can have a little more privacy.
We've got to control the light coming in
and so there were a lot of things we had to do,
both inside and outside, to make it suitable
for this kind of research that we're doing.
-: Fantastic, and people again can walk by it,
probably as they head out to the stadium later today.
Bill Charlton, I'm gonna come to you next.
Our listeners may not, may know this,
but may not know that Nebraska's a significant part
of research effort for the Department of Defense
for this country.
Just one of few universities that is designated
as a research center for that purpose.
Tell us a little bit about that.
-: That's right.
University of Nebraska is affiliated with what's called
a University Affiliated Research Center
for the US Department of Defense called
the National Strategic Research Institute.
It's one of 13 institutes in the United States
so we're a very unique club along with players
like the University of Maryland,
John Hopkins University, Georgia Tech.
That institute is a very special center
for the US Department of Defense.
We do defense-related research at all levels
of classification.
The reconstruction and renovations for Behlen Hall
were a key component for UNL and our ability
to be able to support that research,
including research at various levels of security
from export controlled research
up to more sensitive research in the--
Behlen Hall was redesigned for a maximum degree
of flexibility so that we could move different programs
into different laboratory spaces
throughout the three floors as well as the basement space
which is where the laser laboratory is located at,
down in the basement.
-: Some of this may be probably because of the base
up in Omaha, aright?
That's why Nebraska's
such a big part of this and some people
may not realize that that's right there.
-: That's right.
NSRI's core scope of mission is combating
weapons of mass destruction, which is a mission element
for US Strategic Command, located at Offutt Air Force Base.
So we have direct support to the command there
as well as to other entities of the military,
including the Defense Threat Reduction Agency,
US special operations command and other components
of the military that deal with weapons of mass destruction.
-: Chancellor, it's always fun
to kind of let our audience know, let Nebraskans know
some of the things about this university
that they just may not know go on on a day to day basis.
-: Absolutely and you know that the highlights
that you heard Steve and Bill talk about
within NSRI and this new, newly renovated Behlen Hall.
It will capture a part of the great work
that the Physics Department that used to be housed
in this facility is known for nationally
and internationally.
We have one of the top physics programs in the country here.
Most people don't recognize that or know that.
Then the kind of research that's contributing
to our national defense in this facility
is critically important and we're very proud
of having that new capacity for the university.
-: Bill, Steve, great to have both of you with us
here today.
Chancellor, always great to visit.
We'll see you next week on the road in Illinois.
-: That's right, go Big Red.