The purpose of this new facility is two-fold.  First, it will support the growing idemands of the Cyber Innovation Center and National Cyber Research Park.  Second, it will serve as a physical location to foster collaboration among industry, government and academia by being a central location for training and workforce development.  This new facility will allow academia and industry to leverage the facility to conduct new,  innovative courses and state-of-the-art training programs while building a 21st Century workforce to support continued growth.

The new facility is estimated to cost between $25 million and $30 million.  The Cyber Innovation Center is currently negotiating with potential tenants and will use these executed leases to obtain bond funding.  “We look for this facility to further expand and develop the educational programs jointly developed by Louisiana Tech and the CIC.  This will continue to set our region apart as leaders in cyber innovation and creativity with demonstrable success,” said Craig Spohn, Executive Director of the Cyber Innovation Center.  “It is this success that multiple federal government agencies want to exploit and use as a model around the nation.”

Debt on those bonds would be paid down with lease revenue.  The State of Louisiana plans to contribute $500,000 to design the new building and the Center for Creative Digital Media but requires a 25 percent match from the city.  To support the effort, Bossier City has passed an ordinance that will allow the use of $166,667 in riverboat gaming money to cover this match.  Bossier City will be reimbursed for its contributions through bonds sold to construct the digital media center.

“This facility will provide new opportunities for students of Bossier Parish Schools,” said G.B. Cazes, Director of the CIC’s Academic Outreach and Workforce Development Programs.  The CIC has been working very closely with Bossier Parish Schools, Bossier Parish Community College (BPCC), and Louisiana Tech University to develop new and innovative courses for students.  These courses integrate with informal education opportunities (i.e., Regional Autonomous Robotics Circuit, Cyber Discovery, Shell Eco-Marathon) and dynamic professional development to create a new model in education.  This model has been recognized nationally and is now being funded through  numerous grants to ensure delivery of the Cyber Discovery Model nationwide.  “By housing some of the new learning environments and 21st century classrooms in our new facility, every student in Bossier will have an opportunity to participate in engaging and challenging courses,” said Cazes.

In addition, BPCC will also be able to leverage the classrooms, labs and training facility in the  new facility.  The Cyber Innovation Center has been working with BPCC to design a new Technology Tract for Bossier students.  High school juniors and seniors will be able to earn college level credit in the area of Digital Forensics, Web Design, Computer Programming, Networking and Cyber Security.  These courses will not only map to BPCC’s Associate Degree in Cyber Information Technology but also nationally recognized industry certifications.  “Students will have an opportunity to graduate high school with industry specific skills while jump starting their college careers,” said Cazes.

As the workforce of the future is learning new skills, industry will be developing new technologies in the same building just on another floor.  By co-locating industry and academia, new partnership opportunities will emerge and create a bridge that not only connects students to future employers but also provides a context for the content they learn in the classroom.

The Center will also help bridge the gap between industries.  Digital Media is not just for movies and entertainment but also Defense and Commercial sectors as well.  By locating the Digital Media Center within the National Cyber Research Park, proximity to related companies and other cyber initiatives will create greater synergies for growth and expansion.

The city council on Tuesday approved using a $500,000 grant from the state, with a 25 percent match from the city, to design a Center for Creative Digital Media on the campus of the Cyber Innovation Center.

Bossier City spokesman Mark Natale says the city is interested in benefiting from state tax credits that extend to post-production digital media.

“This is an investment that the city would make in a digital media center that would ultimately bring jobs here to the area,” Natale said. “Technology jobs in the realm of digital media.”

City attorney Jimmy Hall says the city plans to be paid back the $166,000 it puts up for the design when it gets the necessary bond money to actually construct the project.

“And after it’s designed we’ll lock down the leases,” said Hall. “Once those leases are locked down, they’ll go to the bond market and sell the bonds. We’ll get our $166,000 back on the leases and the revenue from those leases will pay the bond indebtedness.”

The total cost of the project could be anywhere from $20-$40 million. It’s not yet known exactly how much of that the taxpayers will be on the line for.

City officials say Bossier Parish will be responsible for 1/3 of the borrowed money.

Officials with Cyber Innovation Center, the non-profit that is in charge of the Cyber Research Park, have not released many details about the project.

The Cyber Innovation Center, which was completed in 2010 at a cost of more than $100 million of local and state money, is at around 82 percent occupancy. The 8th Air Force, which occupies three floors of office space, is set to move its headquarters back to Barksdale Air Force Base next year. Officials at Cyber Innovation Center are working to replace the Air Force with new tenants.

The Bossier City Council also voted to take over crumbling streets at the Stockwell Place Estates subdivision. Residents of the 73-family neighborhood asked for their streets to be taken over by the city since they were never told the streets were actually privately owned and there was no money to get them fixed. The move by the council is dependent on approval by the MPC’s Board of Adjustments, since the roadways are not as wide as city-built streets.

Seventy-six teams from elementary, middle, and high schools in Bossier, Caddo, Natchitoches, Ouachita, and Webster Parishes registered to compete in the challenge held at the Bossier Civic Center Nov. 5.

Proud parents, grandparents, and friends rooted for the teams as they participated in a “fire-fighting” simulation that required teams to use their robots to autonomously navigate a home and to locate and fight “fires” using light sensors and ultrasonic sensors.

The teams earned points based on their performance at the competition and were ranked accordingly. Central Park Elementary’s Team Sparks emerged as the first place winner in the elementary division with Providence Classical Academy taking both second and third places. In the middle school division, The Eagles from Elm Grove Middle School earned first place while Keithville Team 1 and the Gods of Flame from Green Acres Middle School won second and third place, respectively. Parkway High School won first place in the high school division followed by Minden High School in second place and Haughton High School Team 1 in third place.

The teams competed dynamically and, as a result, many of the winning placements had to be decided based on time, the tie-breaker criterion.

“This competition demonstrated how the teams’ skill levels have grown since the first competition in September. The RARC committee recognizes the teams’ ingenuity is ready to create an even greater challenge for our next competition on February 25,” said G.B. Cazes, director of Academic Outreach and Workforce Development at the Cyber Innovation Center.

The Regional Autonomous Robotics Circuit is a series of four robotics competitions offered by the Cyber Innovation Center in partnership with Bossier Parish Community College, Louisiana Tech University, Sci-Port: Louisiana’s Science Center, and Bossier Parish Schools. Students in grades 4-12 from schools across the region are eligible to participate in one or all of the competitions that are scheduled throughout the 2011-2012 school year. At the conclusion of the final competition in May 2012, grand champions in each division will be named based on the accumulation of points from all four competitions, and those teams will be awarded trophies and technology awards for their schools.

To learn more about the Regional Autonomous Robotics Circuit, please visit http://www.cyberinnovationcenter.org/academic-outreach/upcoming-competitions/.

But for all the whooping and hollering of the competing crews from Global Strike’s six far-flung wings, the most poignant moment in Barksdale’s Hoban Hall came when Charley Bourland, 4, held in the arms of a burly score-poster, placed the winning scores on the board for the new Bourland Trophy.

It’s named for his father, Air Force helicopter pilot Ken Bourland, killed in the Jan. 10, 2010, earthquake in Haiti.

For all the noise of the rattling ax handles, blasting horns, blank-firing rifles and pistols and other regalia carried by many of the competitors, there was almost a profound silence when the smiling child posted the numbers.

Those showed the 54th Helicopter Squadron from Minot Air Force Base had taken the prize. You could see tears on the face of Peggy Bourland, his mom, as she stood with the winning crew and the base mascot for photos.

It was a trip the Minot “Rough Riders,” as the 91st Missile Wing calls itself, made often to the stage in Hoban, although the local 2nd Bomb Wing didn’t do badly, either. It took several top awards, including the Spirit Bell, awarded to the team that best represents Global Strike Challenge teamwork and esprit de corps; the Linebacker Trophy for the Best B-52 Squadron; the LeMay Trophy for the Best Bomb Squadron; Best Bomber Conventional Load Team; Best Bomber Munitions Maintenance Team; and the Ellis Giant Sword for Best Bomber Maintenance Group.

“Team Barksdale did an absolutely fantastic job, and we are extremely proud of their performance and professionalism,” said Col. Tim Fay, 2nd Bomb Wing commander, who also made several trips onstage to be with his people.

The postings culminated a busy day in the life of Global Strike Command. They closed the 2nd annual Air Force Global Strike Command Technology and Innovation Symposium, which wrapped up Wednesday with a talk by the command’s head, Lt. Gen. Jim Kowalski.

He spoke at length on challenges facing the Air Force’s nuclear wings, both bomber and missile, and the demands of changing attitudes and aging weapons systems.

“While we continue to build that culture that embraces the special trust and responsibility of the nuclear weapons, we can’t forget that we have significant conventional responsibilities that are also critical to our nation,” he said, speaking on subjects that would have been unimaginable coming out of the mouth of a U.S. general officer in public a decade ago.

“How do we sustain and enhance this current force, meet the responsibilities today to the U.S. Strategic Command, yet still have the funds available to modernize for the future?” he asked moments later. “The only way to accomplish that is through innovation.”

That was the theme of the symposium, and Kowalski’s talk summed up what had been shared in the two-day event.

Global Strike Command sponsored the symposium along with the Cyber Innovation Center, whose executive director, Craig Spohn, thanked all who made it possible just before a fire alarm emptied the building. There weren’t that many people to evacuate since most of the uniformed military had left for Barksdale for the final score-postings.

Here are awards presented in Hoban Hall Wednesday night, the last night of the competition and the only one open to media:

Fairchild Trophy for Best Bomb Wing: 28th Bomb Wing, Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D.

Blanchard Trophy for Best ICBM Wing: 90th Missile Wing, F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo.

Spirit Bell: 2nd Bomb Wing, Barksdale Air Force Base.

Best Security Forces Tactics: 91st Security Forces Group, Minot Air Force Base, N.D.

Best Security Forces Mental and Physical Challenge: 91st Security Forces Group, Minot Air Force Base, N.D.

Charlie Fire Team for Best Security Forces Group: 91st Security Forces Group, Minot.

Linebacker Trophy for Best B-52 Squadron: 96th Bomb Squadron, Barksdale Air Force Base.

LeMay Trophy for Best Bomb Squadron: 93rd Bomb Squadron, Barksdale .

Representatives of the far-flung competing team members, who eventually will number almost 500, come from Global Strike Command, Air Combat Command and the Air Force Reserve Component of the forces that operate the nation’s bombers and land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles.

It all kicks off today at the Shreveport Convention Center with Air Force Global Strike Command head Lt. Gen. Jim Kowalski presiding over the return of the Fairchild, Blanchard and other trophies earned by competitors last November. Those will be given to new recipients Wednesday in a festive ceremony in Hoban Hall at Barksdale Air Force Base.

Events at the Center also start the Air Force Global Strike Command Technology and Innovation Symposium, co-sponsored by the Cyber Innovation Center, which continues Tuesday and Wednesday, with a full schedule of speakers and panels. Details are available at the website http://www.cyberinnovationcenter.org/symposium.

The competitors started to arrive Sunday via military airlift and will conclude with the grand finale score-posting celebrations on Barksdale Tuesday and Wednesday, the Tuesday night events military-only, the Wednesday ones open to press coverage.

“The arrivals serve as a kick-off event showcasing the camaraderie, esprit de corps and competitive spirit the competition generates within the Air Force’s newest command,” a release from Air Force Global Strike Command said.

Team participants include bomber aircrew, maintenance and security forces teams from Barksdale; Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo.; Minot Air Force Base, N.D.; Dyess Air Force Base, Texas; and Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D. They also include missile crew, maintenance, helicopter and security forces teams from Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont; Minot; and F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo. There are also two Air National Guard units, from North Dakota and Missouri, taking part.

The U.S. Senate late last night passed a resolution authored by U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., recognizing October as Cyber Security Awareness Month. As chair of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, Sen. Landrieu has worked to provide the Department of Homeland Security with the necessary high-tech tools and resources to build a work force that protects the United States from new and evolving threats.

“Threats to the homeland no longer come just by land, air or sea. In today’s connected world, new dangers to our country exist in cyberspace, and we must meet these threats with innovative, integrated and bold solutions,” Sen. Landrieu said. “Louisiana has stepped up to meet the evolving threats we face in the 21st century.”

In August, DHS Sec. Janet Napolitano joined Sen. Landrieu to tour Louisiana homeland security sites and meet the extraordinary personnel. The trip provided Sec. Napolitano a first-hand look at Louisiana’s efforts to protect the homeland from all threats. Sec. Napolitano visited the Cyber Innovation Center during her trip and saw first-hand the partnership between the local school system and the Center.
“As we discuss ways to create jobs and get Americans back to work, we must include building a highly educated work force that can compete and fill the jobs in this high-tech century. The Cyber Innovation Center provides a model to the rest of the U.S. on how to do this,” Sen. Landrieu said. “By helping children discover math and science at an early age, we can cultivate their skills to become part of the cyber security work force of the future.”

During her tenure as chair of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, Sen. Landrieu has focused on building a highly skilled work force and a heightened awareness when it comes to the nation’s cyber security. In the DHS FY12 appropriations bill that Sen. Landrieu authored and the full Senate Appropriations Committee passed in September, $450 million is provided for cyber security. Of the $450 million, $23 million is invested in cyber security education, outreach and awareness. She also authored language that encourages DHS and the Department of Defense to work together to develop an effective cyber security strategy.

As Congress works to finish the FY12 appropriations process, Sen. Landrieu added, “We need to pass the DHS appropriations bill so we have the necessary resources to adequate defend the homeland and build a cyber security knowledge base.”