Iowa State University has renewed its contract to run the Ames Lab for the federal government. I-S-U Vice President for business and finance, Warren Madden, says they agreed to a 30-million-dollar-a-year contract. Madden says it’s a five-year dealt that begins in January and has a potential 15-year renewal if the university meets the performance objectives.
Madden says the performance objectives are something new for the Ames Lab contract. Madden says the financial arrangements involve performance measures more than in the past, but the scientific research will remain in physics, chemistry,engineering and material sciences. Madden says the federal government owns the buildings, but the university hires the researchers and runs the lab.
Madden says the university has administrative responsibility for the lab, but he says the unique thing about the lab is that many of the major scientists are hired jointly by the university and the lab. Madden says that works well as it allow the university to bring in top notch researchers.
The Ames Lab has been at Iowa State for nearly 60 years. Madden says the lab started during World War Two as part of the “Manhattan Project” to develop the atomic bomb. Madden says Dr. Spedding, the man who worked on the bomb project, headed up the labs after the war. Scientists at the lab have won several national awards for their research through the year.