Garza: Best part of America's Additive Foundry project will be its impact on applied research

EDINBURG, Texas - Ron Garza, associate vice president for workforce and economic development at UT-Rio Grande Valley, has provided the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service with his analysis of America’s Additive Foundry. UTRGV was awarded $5 million by the Department of Defense. With the funds the university has set up the America’s Additive Foundry Consortium. It launched last week.“I think the most important part of this entire project, especially from the community standpoint, is really displaying how much impact applied research makes for economic development,” Garza told the Guardian.“Economic development means a lot of different things to different people. But research and the use of what we call applied research… applied research is the type of research that is used very specifically for applications in business. This is a manufacturing applied research project but the ultimate creation of using that applied research is creating new businesses that spur out of that and new jobs.” Garza said UTRGV’s goal is to become a recognized research institution. He said America’s Additive Foundry will help with that endeavor.Here is an audio recording of the interview.Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.