News and Events
August 25, 2010
Tallahassee Regional Airport Wins Statewide Environmental Award
The City of Tallahassee Aviation Department today announced the receipt of a statewide environmental award. Tallahassee Regional Airport was selected as recipient of the Florida Airports Council (FAC) Environmental Excellence Award. The award was presented earlier this month at the FAC Annual Conference.
In keeping with the environmental theme, the award presented was manufactured using recycled glass. The FAC annually selects its Environmental Excellence Award recipient from applications submitted by airports throughout Florida. This year's award recognized Tallahassee Regional Airport for the use of Sustainable Construction Practices in the rehabilitation of its North General Aviation Apron.
This project consisted of removing existing pavement from the North General Aviation Apron area and replacing it with new asphalt. Materials for the project were obtained from the in-place recycling of concrete from the existing apron. These materials were then used as the base for the new asphalt, significantly reducing the amount of time and funding spent on the project. This sustainable practice mitigated the impact of greenhouse emissions that would have been expended through increased concrete demolition, transport and landfill disposal, had this conservation strategy not been employed.
Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. was the engineer for the project and C. W. Roberts, Inc. of Tallahassee was the construction contractor. The total cost of the North General Aviation Apron Rehabilitation Project was approximately $3.25 million.
"We applaud the Tallahassee Regional Airport on its use of sustainable practices in their construction program," said Clara Bennett, FAC President. "The use of sustainable practices during construction both enhanced the Airport and preserved natural resources for us and our posterity."
The Tallahassee Regional Airport is operated and maintained by the City of Tallahassee. Over 75 flights daily include nonstop service to Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas-Ft. Worth and Memphis, along with a number of key Florida cities.
August 25, 2010
FSU to Partner in National Research Center Focused on Commercial Space Flight
The Florida State University will play a key role in a world-class consortium assembled by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that joins academia, industry and government to address the present and future challenges of commercial space transportation.
Florida State will contribute to the new Air Transportation Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation through its leadership of the Florida Center for Advanced Aero-Propulsion (FCAAP), which has been selected as one of the FAA center’s core members.
“The bringing together of university and other experts in the field of aerospace from around the United States will result in the type of partnerships that can move the field forward,” said Kirby Kemper, vice president for Research at Florida State. “The fact that Florida institutions are major players in this area is affirmed by FCAAP being named as one of the leaders of this FAA Center of Excellence.”
In announcing the new Center of Excellence, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said the Obama administration is committed to making sure the United States remains the world leader in space development and exploration.
“This new center underscores that commitment, and will ensure that the commercial space community can meet our current and future space transportation needs,” LaHood said.
The Obama administration recently released its new National Space Policy, which outlines opportunities and advancements in commercial space transportation and describes specific ways to use commercial capabilities.
“Commercial space flight is ready to play a greater role in the nation’s space program,” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. “Universities working with industry partners will fuel the research necessary to help keep us in the forefront of both technology and safety in space.”
Established in 2008 with its headquarters at Florida State, FCAAP seeks to bridge the gap between academia and industry and give university-produced innovations for aviation and aerospace a push toward commercial viability. The collaboration brings together scientists, engineers and students from Florida State, particularly those from the Florida A&M University-Florida State University College of Engineering, with those from the other FCAAP partner institutions. In addition to Florida State, the FCAAP partners on the FAA’s Air Transportation Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation are the University of Central Florida and the University of Florida.
In what will be a major boost to FCAAP’s research capabilities, some of its main facilities, along with its headquarters, will soon move into a state-of-the-art Aero-Propulsion, Mechatronics and Energy Building currently under construction in Tallahassee’s Innovation Park, adjacent to the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and the FSU-affiliated National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.
Farrukh Alvi, a professor of mechanical engineering at the College of Engineering and executive director of FCAAP, will lead FCAAP’s commercial space-flight research.
“Our success in being a core member of this winning team underscores the fact that the collective strength of FCAAP is much greater than the sum of the individual members,” Alvi said. “As the FCAAP team, we plan to play a major role in this FAA Center of Excellence and are confident that this will have a significant, positive effect on the state and the nation’s leadership in space, as well as a positive economic impact.”
The Air Transportation Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation is expected to begin operations this month, according to the FAA. New Mexico State University will lead the initiative, whose research and development efforts will focus on four major areas: space launch operations and traffic management; launch vehicle systems, payloads, technologies and operations; commercial human space flight; and space commerce (including space law, space insurance, space policy and space regulation).
In addition to the Florida State University-led FCAAP, the core members of the new FAA center are the Florida Institute of Technology; Stanford University; the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology; the University of Colorado-Boulder; and the University of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston. Other participants include Space Florida; NASA’s Kennedy Space Center; NASA’s Glenn Research Center; Virgin Galactic; SpaceX; Qinetiq North America/Analex; Florida Turbine Technologies; the International Space University; and Starfighters Inc.
One of the industry partners, Space Florida, has also announced that it will commit up to $2 million over three years as a match investment to members of the Air Transportation Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation partners that assist with securing space-related business in Florida.
More information on the FAA Centers of Excellence program is available here.
Visit www.fcaap.com and http://aapl.fsu.edu/ to learn more about the FCAAP and the state-of-the-art research under way there.
August 11, 2010
TMH and FSU College of Medicine to Establish Internal Medicine Residency Program
The Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Board of Directors and the Florida State University College of Medicine announced plans to pursue a joint internal medicine residency program for the Big Bend region. The Tallahassee Memorial and Florida State University Internal Medicine Residency Program would be housed at Tallahassee Memorial's main campus and The Florida State College of Medicine would be the institutional sponsor. The program could begin accepting applications for resident physicians as early as fall 2011.
Florida ranks No. 4 in population but No. 44 in the number of graduate medical education slots for residency programs. Recent legislation will soon allow many vacant residency slots to be transferred to new regions and hospitals. While the number of residency training slots remains capped at 100,000 through 1997’s Balanced Budget Act, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, about 1,000 slots are expected to shift toward states with a shortage of slots compared to overall population. Florida is expected to receive approximately 300 slots. The bill also gives preference to teaching hospitals that focus on primary care and general surgery residencies, emphasize community-based training, and are located in areas with growing populations, criteria that Tallahassee Memorial Hospital satisfies on all counts.
“Tallahassee Memorial Hospital has the opportunity to expand medical training and care on our campus for the benefit of our region’s citizens and graduating medical students. The program will also complement Tallahassee Memorial’s already strong Family Medicine Residency Program, which has served our community so well,” said Mark O’Bryant, president and CEO of Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare.
Since 1973, 301 physicians have completed their training through the Family Medicine Residency Program with more than half selecting to practice in Florida, including 97 in the Tallahassee community. As studies show that roughly 60 percent of doctors practice where they complete their residency, a second program at Tallahassee Memorial would bring many new physicians to our region, aiding the state in facing its longstanding challenge to retain doctors.
“While the FSU College of Medicine is committed to training the kinds of doctors that Florida needs the most, we can do only part of the job,” said College of Medicine Dean John P. Fogarty, M.D. “This year, 60 percent of our graduating seniors left the state to pursue their residency training. It is critical that we develop new programs to train these residents locally to keep them here in Florida.
“It is wonderful to partner with TMH in this endeavor and build on the record of success they have had with the family medicine residency program. Internal medicine is the next logical step to increase the primary care workforce here in Tallahassee.”
Graduates of the program would be equipped with three years of training in the field of internal medicine, a specialty dealing with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of adult diseases. These physicians would have the expertise to help solve puzzling diagnostic problems and could use their comprehensive medical knowledge to serve as primary care doctors or specialists in fields such as cardiology or endocrinology.
“The Tallahassee Memorial and Florida State University Internal Medicine Residency Program will attract a greater number of physicians to the Panhandle, improve access to care and eventually pave the way for additional joint residency initiatives in specialties such as general surgery and emergency medicine,” O’Bryant said. “We are elated that the Florida State College of Medicine is united with us in this common goal.”
“As the nation’s newest medical school with graduates, we see the development of additional residency training programs as a natural next step for us,” said Alma Littles, M.D., senior associate dean for medical education and academic affairs at the College of Medicine.
“In addition to the fact that doctors are more likely to practice where they complete residency, residency programs also serve as the only access to care for many patients in the area where they are located.”
