Governor visits WSU

Utah Governor Gary Herbert paid a visit to Weber State University on Thursday, July 22, to attend a presentation by Utah Science, Technology and Research (USTAR) and a demonstration of new law enforcement technology.

The governor is by no means a stranger to the campus, nor its administration.

“I love WSU’s campus,” Gov. Herbert said. “And more importantly, I love your president. She is a fantastic lady who’s doing some great things. You’ve got great leadership here at Weber State University ... There’s nothing not like at Weber State University.”

The USTAR presentation focused heavily on WSU’s role in science and technology research, and “went very well,” according to Curt Roberts, vice provost for Innovation & Economic Development at WSU and outreach director for USTAR in northern Utah. The university is headquarters for USTAR and the Utah Center for Aeronautical Innovation & Design (UCAID).

“What we really wanted to illustrate to the governor is the larger impact that the university and the investment in USTAR are having in northern Utah as a result of the work that we’re doing here, and this was just really one way to bring that to life,” Roberts said. “I think he learned some things about Weber State that he didn’t know before he came!”

WSU President Ann Millner accompanied the governor in the golf cart that carried him to the Bell Tower Plaza following USTAR’s presentation, where a small, remote-controlled helicopter was on display.

This remote-piloted vehicle (RPV) is no Wal-Mart toy. Developed by local company Leptron, these helicopters are intended to make traffic surveillance and law enforcement more efficient. In a manual investigation of automobile accidents, it may take up to an hour and a half to process the details.

“Now they can videotape it in six minutes,” said Leptron founder John Oakley, “and then they take the chip out of the camera, put it in the computer and it draws the accident scene within a quarter of an hour. So it’s safer, they don’t spend near as much time on the pavement in front of the cars, and it’s accurate; the pictures that they have are exactly the same as the drawings. The program that they use in the computer recognizes the make, the model, the year of the car, the angle slammed, the crash time — it’s very good stuff.”

Leptron’s RPVs have already made a significant impact, according to Oakley.
“They’ve been using it long enough for the state of Utah that they can tell you now how many lives they’ve saved by using that equipment, how much time it saves them on each accident scene.”

State funding is needed for some enhancements to the equipment, which is where the governor and Bradley J. Stringer, UCAID executive director, come in.

“Our lab is working with Leptron, has been contracted by Leptron to do some enhancements to their fleet of helicopters, to make them better for some certain missions that they’re going to be going after now,” said Stringer, who is also a research professor of mathematics at WSU.

The grant to USTAR will help fund UCAID’s work on the RPVs. According to Gov. Herbert, the state has invested $75-80 million into USTAR to date.

“We put in about $40 million last year and I expect in this upcoming budget session in 2011 we’ll put another installment in there. It has the potential to provide significant economic development, thousands and thousands of jobs.”

The governor said this has been a worthy investment, and mentioned other uses for the RPVs.

“You know, we’re getting great bang for our bucks; investment into Utah science technology research is really paying dividends … with these helicopters’ demonstration, which is just so very impressive, how they function and, you know, the capabilities they have, and applications they’re probably just discovering as for how it can be utilized. It’s not just for law enforcement, it’s not just military; they’ve gone out there and counted the wildlife out on the Great Salt Lake and some of our wildlife refuges.”

Further information about USTAR can be found at http://weber.edu/USTAR.