West Virginia’s higher education institutions anticipate having a strong supporting role as Virgin Hyperloop moves ahead with a $500 million development center for high-speed pod-and-tube transportation.
The certification center in Tucker and Grant counties would be a hub to lay the groundwork for research and regulation. Officials say the project will require engineering expertise.
West Virginia and Marshall universities have been involved from the start. And West Virginia’s community colleges also will develop workforce training programs for the skills needed by the certification center, the state’s higher education chancellor said.
A hyperloop system could connect cities, allowing transportation in pods zipping through sealed tubes at speeds of 600 miles an hour or more.
West Virginia University President Gordon Gee said a collaborative effort will help steer the cutting-edge technology.
“I am committed to building a consortium of universities from around the country, which will lend their expertise to further develop the vision of hyperloop,” Gee stated today.
“We will also create educational and institutional opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to be a part of this program. There is no greater learning lab than what we will build here in West Virginia.”
Rob Alsop, vice president for strategic initiatives at WVU echoed the desire to cooperate. “We see tremendous opportunities with our state in this partnership with Virgin Hyperloop,” Alsop said.
Marshall University has worked closely with WVU and others throughout the process.
“Higher Education institutions are hubs for research, innovation, and talent,” Marshall University President Jerome Gilbert stated.
“Colleges and universities help build and strengthen our communities and, in this partnership with Virgin Hyperloop, the awesome opportunity to build the communities of the future is now at our doorstep.”
John Maher, vice president for research at Marshall University, described conversations about the scientific and technical needs of Virgin Hyperloop.
He said cooperation will be necessary to develop the hyper-structure, the control systems, artificial intelligence and the machine language. He said those are in the wheelhouses of West Virginia’s major universities.
“We look forward to collaborating particularly at Marshall in our large-scale civil engineering testing, rail and tunnel technology and the cyber technology that is necessary to operate,” Maher said.
Beyond that, “ahead of us, there’s a major recruiting and retention effort that’s going to be necessary,” Maher said.
The West Virginia Community and Technical College System will also play a key role in helping to create education and job training programs.
“For Virgin Hyperloop, we’re going to be focused on aligning workforce training efforts with their specific needs, including manufacturing, cybersecurity and safety,” higher education Chancellor Sarah Armstrong Tucker said during a roundtable discussion of the project today.
“The work they’re looking to achieve in testing their technology will require an all-hands-on-deck approach from all of post-secondary education.”
Sarah Biller, executive director of Vantage Ventures at WVU, suggested these partnerships will help generate additional interest in a number of innovative projects starting up across West Virginia.
“This is another example that proves we actually can attract investors, attract the talent, and really reframe the conversation for our future,” Biller said.