Loh, UMD delegation visit NAS Patuxent River

Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-5), recently hosted a delegation from the University of Maryland, including President Wallace Loh, on a vist to Naval Air Station Patuxent River to attend a briefing and tour of the facilities. In addition to President Loh, the delegation included Barbara Loh, Assistant to the President for Legislative and Community Relations Ross Stern, Vice President for Research and Chief Research Officer Patrick O’Shea, Associate Vice President for Research and Economic Development and Director of Corporate Relations Brian Darmody, UMERC Chair Eric Wachsman, Aerospace Engineering Chair Norman Wereley and ISR Director Reza Ghodssi.

“I want to thank President Loh for visiting NAS Patuxent River today so that he could see firsthand the talent and world-class capabilities of Pax River,” Congressman Hoyer said. “The future of Pax River depends on a highly-skilled workforce, and I’m pleased President Loh and NAVAIR leadership could come together today to discuss growing opportunities for partnering on education and research efforts and how we can ensure our students have the education and training so they can find work and we can meet the needs of our local defense community.”

The delegation was welcomed by Commander of NAVAIR Admiral David Architzel and received a command overview from Vice Commander of NAVAIR Admiral Steven Eastburg and Executive Director of NAWC-AD Gary Kessler. They toured several facilities, including the Advanced Systems Integration Lab, the Manned Flight Simulator, and the Horizontal Accelerator Facility. A working lunch to continue discussing collaboration between the University of Maryland and NAS Patuxent River followed the tour.

“This briefing makes clear that we can strengthen our already robust partnership with Pax River, and benefit our students, faculty and the community,” said Loh. “These relationships are vital to our national security and to the state of Maryland. The University delegation is grateful to Congressman Hoyer, Delegate Bohanan and Admiral Architzel for providing such an informative briefing and tour.”

Currently, UMD and NAVAIR are partnering on joint education and research efforts, including programs in the Clark School. Congressman Hoyer will continue to work with UMD and NAVAIR leadership teams on opportunities to partner on research, innovation, and workforce development.

Published August 13, 2012