MCRU/Penn State connection, The

Sea Power, Apr 2001 by Brill, Arthur P Jr

The Marine Corps' Lean, Mean Research University

"Happy Valley" in central Pennsylvania is a colorful place to visit on a football weekend, but dreary in the winter. Penn State University (Penn State), the area's number one "business," is completely landlocked and a long way from sunny Marine Corps landing beaches in California, Hawaii, and the Western Pacific. Penn State, however, has forged a unique relationship with the Corps.

Marines pride themselves on being lean, mean warriors who are peopleoriented. That is an accurate description, but to defeat its adversaries the Corps is involved in some unique and complex technology. To stay ahead in expeditionary logistics, nonlethal weapons, tiltrotor aircraft, communications in urban areas, and other advanced technologies it relies on the Marine Corps Research University at Penn State.

"The other services have had working relationships with major universities for years. This is a Marine Corps first," said Col. Dennis B. Herbert, assistant for program development at Penn State and a retired Marine aviator. "Information technology is advancing so rapidly, a system that uses uniforms can't keep up."

In the past, the Corps' warrior mentality, its modest research and development effort, its rapid turnover of personnel, and its relatively small civilian infrastructure hampered Marines from reaching out. However, the benefits of linking up with a multidisciplinary major research university became evident in the 1990s.

An Outgrowth of Enlightenment "We will win in the future by building relationships with people who can help us," then-Marine Commandant Gen. Charles C. Krulak told Sea Power in 1998. "We can tie into academic institutions that will keep us ahead."

Krulak called it "leaning into the 21st century" and he used the Marine Corps' Chemical/Biological Incident-- Response Force (CBIRF) as an example. Academicians and pharmaceutical companies helped produce special cameras, for example, that allow CBIRF personnel to analyze mucus dripping from victims' noses. "Why build something in our military that already exists on the outside?" Krulak asked.

The Marine Corps Research University (MCRU) is an outgrowth of this enlightened attitude. Krulak signed the MCRU contract in June 1999 in one of his final acts as commandant.

The contract appears to be a mutually beneficial, cost-effective arrangement. With no retainer fee involved, the vast resources, facilities, and minds of the 10th largest university in the United States are available to the Marine Corps. Not being limited to the expertise of a single research facility makes the MCRU unique. Because no subject is out of bounds, the entire university staff has the potential to help.

Penn State benefits only when the Marine Corps contracts work out. The number of those contracts is increasing. Thus far, Penn State has completed 10 of the 29 delivery orders funded through the Marine Corps contract for a relatively low cost of $13.5 million.

"Penn State is not guaranteed any money," said Ron R. Madrid, MCRU project manager and another retired Marine aviator. "It costs the Marine Corps no money to support MCRU. We generate revenue only when we sell a Penn State capability to the Corps."

A Rapid-Response Capability Penn State was a natural fit for the Marine Corps. It has had a long-term relationship with the Department of Defense (DOD) and is second only to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in federal research funding. The university's Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) has enjoyed a 55-year affiliation with the Navy that allows classified work through Top Secret.

Founded in 1855, Penn State is a state-related school but receives only about 17 percent ($300 million) of its almost $2 billion operating budget from Pennsylvania. Its 80,000 students are enrolled in 24 campuses throughout the state. The main campus, and research hub, at University Park, with 40,000 students, is in the geographic middle of the state, less than a four-hour drive from New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, or Washington, D.C.

Presently in the first option year of a renewable five-year omnibus contract, MCRU is a lean operation consisting primarily of one university official and the two retired Marines-- who are paid by the university. Herbert and Madrid serve as middlemen between the Marine Corps and the Penn State faculty, researchers, and graduate students who work on Marine projects. MCRU is presently headquartered in the ARL, but will move shortly to a facility near Beaver Stadium, where Penn State's "Nittany Lions" play football.

"We respond quickly to the requirements of the Marine Corps," said Madrid. "There isn't much bureaucracy and we can get answers within hours."

Parameters of Fulfillment

After the signing of the MCRU contract, Madrid ensured that the relationship between Penn State and the Marines blossomed. He went to deans, department heads, and faculty members and bluntly told them about the Marine Corps. He explained that the MCRU program was not a grant, but a deliverable contract with fixed-time and cost parameters written in.