Ron Moffitt, director of the
Advanced and Applied Polymers
Processing Institute at IALR,
in the twin-screw polymer lab.
Institute for Advanced Learning and Research
The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville, Virginia is a joint Virginia Tech-community effort to focus economic redevelopment of the Southside region on the innovation economy.
When the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR) in Danville opened its doors in 2004, it was the realization of a dream for many and a significant result of a collaborative economic development strategy for Southside Virginia that would become a national model for university/community engagement. That strategy involves educating the local workforce in advanced technologies and conducting cutting edge research in biotechnology, motor sports, polymer sciences, unmanned systems, and other areas that lend themselves to rapid commercialization. It also entails licensing research results to local businesses, including agriculture, or to start-up companies that will help to broaden the base of the region’s economy.
IALR’s mission is to develop and attract technology and talent critical to Southside Virginia's economic transformation through advanced learning, strategic research and technology transfer, IALR Conference Center activities, IALR outreach programs, and technology infrastructure development. The IALR leverages the resources of Virginia Tech in partnership with Danville Community College , Averett University, and regional public and private organizations.
The Southside region, located along the North Carolina border east of the Blue Ridge Mountains, had built its former prosperity on tobacco farming and sales and textile and furniture manufacturing. The decline of the tobacco industry and the relocation of local manufacturing plants to other countries put the local economy into a downward tailspin.
But Southside did have an invaluable asset—local leaders who cared about their community and who chose to be proactive in charting its future. Instead of walking away, they worked together and brought in Virginia Tech.
IALR is part of a comprehensive collaborative strategy for Southside Virginia supported by Outreach and International Affairs at Virginia Tech.
This type of outreach endeavor is central to Virginia Tech’s land grant goal of “sharing the power of knowledge” by transferring knowledge from the university to society at large to stimulate economic growth. The Virginia Tech Southside Implementation Team was formed in the fall of 2001 to involve new technology and administrative leadership on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg in planning, developing, and implementing a multi-faceted strategy for university outreach and involvement.
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Facilities
The IALR facility now includes
- 93,000 square feet of research, classroom, conference, and office space equipped with state-of-the-art information technology.
- More than 25 classrooms and computer labs including a smaller version of Tech’s Math Emporium.
- A great hall that seats 750.
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Southside Implementation Team
A volunteer advisory body of Virginia Tech administrators, researchers, and other experts that meets regularly with community stakeholders to assist Southside and the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in charting their future.