Plans underway for new $38M STEM center on WPAFB

The goal is to have those five years lead to the building of a new center on Air Force land, anchored by a no-cost, 50-year government lease.

The signing ceremony marked the Air Force’s designation of 16 acres near the museum for what is described as a first-of-its-kind facility dedicated to preparing the next generation of scientists, engineers and technical professionals.

The ceremony was just a first step. Fundraising for the new center starts now. Those shepherding the project hope to bring federal earmarks, state capital spending and area philanthropy to bear.

“It’s just about trying to give back to the kids in the community,” said Ron Shroder, chairman of the board for Beavercreek’s Frontier Technology Inc., who will also chair the LLC responsible for the new center. “We feel fortunate to have Wright-Patterson here.”

Advocates established a crowd-sourcing fund with the Dayton Foundation, a fund that will take pledges of any amount donated toward the new center.

Jeff Hoagland, president and chief executive of the Dayton Development Coalition, said the question of a talented workforce is not merely incidental to bringing new employers and Air Force missions to the Dayton area.

“Now the first question (from prospective employers) is: Do you have the workforce?” Hoagland said.

“Where is that pipeline (of future workers) coming from,” asked Col Dustin Richards, commander of Wright-Patterson’s 88th Air Base Wing. “Where are we building folks who are going to come and step right into this?”

At Wright-Patterson, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the National Air and Space Intelligence Center and other missions “are hungering for the talent that these type of initiatives are going to produce,” he added.

“There are a lot of moving pieces needed for this to fall into place,” Sciabica, a former civilian executive director of the Air Force Research Laboratory, told the Dayton Daily News this week.

Today, Sciabica leads the Employers’ Workforce Coalition, an initiative of The Dayton Foundation and its partners.

If plans are realized, the new center will be easily visible from Springfield Street in Riverside. As visitors drive toward the museum past gate 28B off Springfield, the center will be on their left.

The licensor for the outgrant license is the Air Force, while Air Camp Inc. is the licensee.