ARTICLE

April 2003

Battelle Opens New Chem-Bio Research Facility

by Harold Kennedy

A $22 million chemical and biological research center has opened near the U.S. Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground, in Maryland.

When fully operational, the 73,000-square foot facility—the Battelle Eastern Regional Technology Center—will house 16 laboratories, a conference room and offices for 200 researchers, explained C. Warrant Mullins, vice president for business development, in the organization’s defense systems unit.

The center includes elaborate and powerful ventilation systems to provide the cleanest air possible for the sensitive equipment in the laboratories, Mullins said. “You’re probably breathing some of the cleanest air right now that you’ll ever breathe in your life,” he said.

The laboratories will perform chemical and biological research for the Defense Department, all of the military services, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and others. “Some clients don’t want their names mentioned,” Mullins said.

Initially, most of the work will be defense related, he said, but as time goes on, “we expect to do more civilian projects.”

The center has plenty of room for growth, Mullins noted. It is situated on 92 acres of forest and wetlands.

Also, the Aberdeen Center is not far from a 30,000-square foot facility that Battelle opened in 2002 in Stafford, Va. The building was needed to house a rapidly expanding staff, which grew from two in 1996 to 130 today, according to Battelle spokesperson Katy Delaney.

The Stafford unit provides test and eva-luation support to efforts by the Marine Corps Systems Command, at Quantico, Va., to develop chemical, biological and radiological defenses for all of the military services, other federal agencies and the nation’s first responders.

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