UArizona is 1 of 4 higher education institutions in the nation positioned to fill the research and diverse workforce needs for the defense industry, specifically related to hypersonics.

Federal funding for hypersonics related research is expected to grow by over $200M in the next year. 

DoD, Raytheon, and other defense companies have expressed the need for more students graduating with degrees related to STEM and hypersonics systems.

DoD is planning to double its research in hypersonic capabilities from $6.2 billion to $11.2 billion by FY2024. Accessible hypersonics wind tunnels will help UArizona compete for this research.

Companies like Raytheon currently spend millions of dollars per year traveling to the handful of commercially available hypersonic testing facilities in the U.S.

Ensuring students are workforce ready requires hands on training and exposure to next-gen infrastructure.

UArizona is #1 in astronomy and astrophysics, #4 in NASA funding among public universities and growing rapidly in DoD funding.

NASA’s FY20 budget shows an increase from $927 million to $1.5 billion for “Space Technology”, DoD FY20 indicates $30M for “Space Technology Development.”

The cost to develop a competitive proposal for a large NASA or DoD contract has escalated dramatically over the last decade.

Proposal development for a major mission or contract can easily cost $1 million over two years, however the payoff is very large (major NASA mission - $500; major DoD contract - $50-$100M).

Physician Assistant

There is a primary care physician shortage across Arizona, and the launch of a Physician Assistant program will help address this need. UArizona Health Sciences is uniquely positioned to leverage partnerships across our five colleges to create new dual-degree offerings that would train providers to address multiple health care needs.

Certified Nurse Midwife

The shortage of OB-GYNs in Arizona is expected to increase over the coming years, along with growth in demand for midwives and corresponding positive salaries for these positions. A new midwifery degree program will help expand maternal and fetal health care access across the state.

Physical Therapy

There are currently no Doctor of Physical Therapy programs in Tucson. A new Doctor of Physical Therapy program will help serve state needs as well as provide additional educational opportunities to students interested in health science careers.

Addiction Prevention

This initiative will work to expand the capabilities of the newly established UArizona Health Sciences Comprehensive Pain and Addiction Center as the nucleus for treatment, research, trials, drug discovery, technology, education and legislation to predict, prevent and contain addiction crises.

Melanoma & Skin Cancer Database

Arizona demonstrates one of the highest incidence rates of melanoma and skin cancer in the world at significant economic impact to our health care systems. This initiative will build the only state registry and database of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer to better assess the full burden of melanoma.

Valley Fever Collaborative

This initiative will partially support a collaborative effort between Arizona’s three state universities that will focus on the development of precision medicine approaches, drug development and environmental risk abatement to reduce the financial cost and human burden of Valley fever.

Aegis Consortium

The Aegis Consortium based at the University of Arizona Health Sciences will use the knowledge gained from COVID-19 to predict and prepare for future pandemics. The concept and reach of the Consortium will require university-wide collaborations, as well as partnerships with universities, foundations, nonprofits, governments and industries throughout the world.

Center for Advanced Molecular Immunotherapies (CAMI)

The Center for Advanced Molecular Immunotherapies will form alliances and enhance relationships with other academic, professional and industry organizations to accelerate progress in the late-stage development and commercialization of personalized cell and gene-based therapies in cancer, autoimmune disease, infectious disease and immune monitoring.

Center for Regenerative and Restorative Medicine (CRRM)

The mission of the Center for Regenerative and Restorative Medicine is to catalyze research into a community that is focused on development of cell-based technologies that diagnose disease or heal injured tissue. The objectives rely on research to build living, cell-based therapies or products that enable function through biochemical and physical means that improve human health.

The demand for copper is expected to rise 275 – 350% by 2050 due to the electrification of energy.

Modernization of the mining workforce is more important than ever as the industry renews its commitment to sustainability and safety. Innovation is key as mining engineers face mineral deposits that are increasingly difficult to extract.

UArizona’s investment proposal will support 23,487 jobs by year 10 and 57,334 jobs by year 20.

Over 20 years, approximately $32.6B in labor income (i.e., the wages and benefits) will be created for the jobs that are supported by UArizona’s proposal.

A total of $94.6B in economic output (i.e., the value of goods or services produced in an area) will be generated by UArizona’s proposal over the 20-year period.

UArizona’s $32.0M investment proposal will generate a total of $3.9B in tax revenues (i.e., $2.0B in state tax revenues and $1.9B in local tax revenues) over the 20-year investment timeframe. 

The breakeven point for the state’s investment in UArizona is achieved by year 9. In year 10, a positive ROI occurs and increases each year thereafter. The breakeven point occurs in less than half of the amount of time than would be considered acceptable for this type of investment (20-years).