“Our business is growing significantly and we have considerable new technologies that must be developed and industrialized,” Gary Mercer, vice president of engineering at GE Aviation, said in the company’s statement. “We want UC’s best minds to be a part of our journey as we influence the future course of aviation. It is also an important effort to further enhance Ohio’s aerospace capabilities.”
The company is investing some $100 million in capital improvements at the Evendale campus for the center.
In 2012, the University of Cincinnati received a $5 million “Ohio Third Frontier” grant from the state of Ohio that will be used by UCRI to purchase equipment for the joint GE/UCRI research activities.
GE Aviation this year opened its new electrical power research lab on River Park Drive on the University of Dayton campus. The company employs some 1,500 workers in the immediate Dayton area and has about 9,000 employees across Southwestern Ohio.
It recent years, GE Aviation has:
2007: GE Aviation’s engine test center at Peebles, Ohio underwent $90 million expansion.
2007: GE Aviation acquired Smith Aerospace including two facilities in Dayton.
2009: GE Aviation and the Ohio Dept. of Development partnered to update the Evendale plant. GE invested $100 million in the Evendale complex over the next three years.
2013: GE Aviation’s engine test center at Peebles underwent a $70 million expansion.
Late 2013: GE Aviation opened the Electrical Power Integrated Systems R&D Center (EPISCENTER) at the UD campus in collaboration with the UD Research Institute.
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