Senator calls for endowment to make NM America's leader in energy research


Tim Keller
From the Alamogordo Daily News - SANTA FE -- A state legislator wants to create a $40 million university endowment to make New Mexico the leader in energy research and technology. The plan's author, Sen. Timothy Keller, said Monday the state must move decisively to establish a sector of business expertise that will strengthen its economy for the long term. "We have to do something like this for economic development, and to make our state more relevant nationally," said Keller, D-Albuquerque. His bill would create the $40 million fund in four years. A total of $835,000 a month would be diverted from gross receipts taxes and funneled to the university endowment. Then New Mexico's research universities would share 5 percent -- or $2 million -- every year from the endowment's investment profits. With the windfall, they would recruit top faculty responsible for research, teaching, development and commercialization of sustainable energy technologies. The schools that would receive the money are New Mexico State University, New Mexico Tech and the University of New Mexico. Their job would be to land the finest professors in the energy field, then give them the tools they need to make commercial and scientific advances. Read more
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1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Corporations will conduct the research if it is beneficial and competitive. When the government does it, we know the technology and research is not cost effective. The government ALWAYS spends tax payer monies inefficiently and ineffectively.

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