September 17, 2010

Durbin: Senate Apropriations Committee Approves $63.4 Million in Defense Funding for Projects in Illinois

[Washington, DC] – Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee, of which he is a member, has approved $63,400,000 in federal funding to assist defense related facilities and projects across Illinois.  The bill has been reported by the Committee and now awaits consideration by the full Senate.  

 

The Fiscal Year 2011 defense spending bill includes funding for the following projects:

 
  • Children’s Memorial Hospital, Chicago: $3,600,000in funding to support research into regenerative genes and techniques to activate them.  This research will also investigate cardiomyopathy treatments.  Potential treatments could help injured servicemembers recover from major trauma involving limb loss and vascular and cardiac injury.

     
  • Columbia College, Chicago: $4,000,000 in funding to expand an existing Columbia College project that uses computer-based simulation to virtually train troops to handle battlefield situations.  The video and audio technology Columbia College has developed would be used to help the Army establish improved human feature detection technology with the potential to detect movement and communication cues that might suggest a potential risk to troops in the field.

     
  • Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago: $2,000,000 in funding to continue the partnership between the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and the Army Research Lab, with IIT developing a cyber security system that can detect, respond and recover from security compromises on a computer network.  The prototype system will be evaluated for effectiveness using Department of Defense datasets that mimic an attack on a computer.

     
  • Illinois National Guard, Springfield: $8,000,000 in funding for the purchase Chemical and Biological Protective Shelters, which are mobile systems military medical units use to triage patients. The shelters are integrated into a military vehicle allowing provision of care in locations where medical infrastructure is not present or is compromised.

     
  • Loyola University Hospital, Maywood:  $2,400,000 in funding to purchase additional equipment and expand current research at the Burn and Shock Trauma Institute.  This project will continue Loyola's research in burn trauma and infection, injuries commonly encountered in battlefield and military settings.  Specifically, the funding will support research examining the relationship between burn infections and hypermetabolism, a reaction to severe burns that greatly diminishes the body’s ability to heal.

     
  • Naval Station Great Lakes, Great Lakes: $1,000,000 in funding to allow the Naval Station to install solar thermal energy technology at its facilities.  The system will reduce electricity and natural gas costs, expand the use of cost-effective renewable energy, and lower carbon emissions.

     
  • Northern Illinois University, DeKalb: $4,000,000 in funding for a research project on potential improvements in fuel economy and the durability of military and civilian motors. New electronics, manufacturing processes, and lightweight engineered materials offer the potential of increased fuel economy, reduced weights and sizes, more durable equipment, and lower operating costs.

     
  • Northwestern University, Evanston: $5,000,000 in funding to support research into organic voltaics – lightweight and flexible materials that convert solar energy into electric power.  These materials could be incorporated into servicemembers’ tents, backpacks, tarpaulins and other equipment to generate electrical power.

     
  • Quad Cities Manufacturing Laboratory, Rock Island: $6,400,000 in funding to allow the Laboratory to continue to advance titanium and magnesium manufacturing capabilities at the Rock Island Arsenal. The Quad City Manufacturing Lab is located in the Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center at the Rock Island Arsenal.

     
  • Rehab Institute of Chicago, Chicago: $2,000,000 in funding to support research into improved methods to help injured servicemembers regain and strengthen motor performance in their hands and limbs.  This project will use mechanical systems developed by the Rehab Institute of Chicago to retain hand and arm functions in neurologically impaired persons.  The researchers will also investigate new methods to reanimate and recover leg movement in individuals with spinal cord injury.

     
  • Rock Island Arsenal, Rock Island: $6,000,000 in funding to complete Phase V construction of a new roof for Building #299 – a 775,000 square foot warehouse at Rock Island Arsenal.  Building #299 was originally constructed in 1942.  The new roof will provide a safer, healthier environment for employees producing and shipping armor kits. 

     
  • Rock Island Arsenal, Rock Island: $6,700,000 in fundingto support a “mini-rearmament effort” for the Joint Manufacturing & Technology Center (JMTC).  Funding would be used to purchase equipment for advanced titatinium and composite manufacturing and for general upgrades to computer systems. 

     
  • Rock Island Arsenal, Rock Island.  $4,000,000 in funding for the Arsenal Support Program Initiative (ASPI) which renovates unused office and manufacturing space at Rock Island Arsenal to lease to commercial firms. ASPI was enacted by Congress in FY 2001 to encourage commercial firms to use the arsenal's facilities. ASPI allows the arsenal to modernize and maintain infrastructure while creating jobs.

     
  • Rush University Medical Center, Chicago: $4,300,000 funding to further develop the Center for Advanced Emergency Response and expand the cooperative program between the Department of Defense and Rush University Medical Center.  It would provide technical expertise to develop a disease-based biosurveillance system able to identify biological threat agents with further development to include chemical and radiological agents as well as naturally occurring disasters. These funds will help provide clinical expertise in defending against biological and chemical terrorism and in treating first responders and citizens in the case of natural disasters or acts of terrorism resulting in mass casualty incidents.

     
  • University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign: $4,000,000 in funding for the Center for Assured Critical Application and Infrastructure Security (CACAIS) – a joint effort between the University of Illinois and the Navy to develop software capable of validating the trustworthiness of computer systems for the nation's critical infrastructures, including Department of Defense computers and civilian electrical grids.