USC, Boeing ink aerospace research partnership deal

The University of South Carolina and Boeing on Thursday announced a $5 million agreement that calls for USC to conduct advanced research projects aimed at delivering new technology for the aerospace giant.

The research will be carried out at the McNair Aerospace Center on the USC campus. The agreement marks the first formal partnership between USC and Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company that has several major facilities in Charleston. Boeing has its eyes on multiple research projects to be carried out at the USC center that include finding more efficient ways to produce airplane components.

USC is home to the state’s only university-based aerospace research center. The McNair Center is named for the late Ronald McNair, an astronaut from Lake City who died when the space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after takeoff in 1986.

McNair’s widow, Cheryl, who traveled from Houston to USC for Thursday’s announcement, said she and her late husband had planned to return to the Palmetto State after the Challenger mission. She said McNair planned to teach at the university.

USC President Harris Pastides said the partnership with Boeing makes USC a working university partner and, he hopes, a contributor to the knowledge-based manufacturing and research and development economy of South Carolina.

“The partnership with Boeing puts the University of South Carolina on the forefront of research that will lead to exciting new discoveries in the aerospace field,” Pastides said. “We’re taking off with lots of determination. The determination of a great company, Boeing.”

Boeing is a leading manufacturer of commercial jets as well as space, defense and security systems, Pastides noted. The company has customers in 150 countries.

Burton Rhodes, the McNair Center’s laboratory manager, said the partnership will give USC students the opportunity to work alongside Boeing professionals.

The partnership also highlights the aerospace and aviation industry’s growing presence in South Carolina. The state has more than 400 companies in the industry, which employ more than 17,000 workers, according to the nonprofit S.C. Council on Competitiveness.

Formed in 2011, the McNair Center for Aerospace Innovation and Research seeks to pair industry leaders with top researchers to develop technology for the aerospace industry, according to USC. The center does research based on specific industry needs.

Darla Moore, a Lake City financier and USC’s biggest benefactor, kick-started the center in 2011 with a $5 million donation. Anita Zucker, a Charleston businesswoman, gave $5 million to the center in 2012.

Television network executive Marva Smalls donated $1 million in 2013 to endow scholarships at the center for minority students from the state’s Pee Dee region majoring in computer science and engineering.

John Tracy, Boeing’s chief technology officer, said the USC-Boeing partnership reflects a history dating back to the company’s 2009 announcement of plans to build a $6 billion final assembly plant in North Charleston, where the company’s sophisticated 787 jetliners are assembled using composite materials.

Since 2009, the company has put in place a propulsion systems team responsible for engine-related components for Boeing’s 777-X and 737-Max jetliners, and opened engineering design and information technology centers that provide expertise and support to the entire company. The company also has opened a research and development center in North Charleston, Tracy said.

In the current agreement plan between USC and Boeing, the two entities will work on about seven technology areas that are critical to aerospace, Tracy said.

“Our initial projects will focus on subjects such as finding more efficient ways to create airplane components from carbon fiber composite materials; developing better techniques for joining aircraft parts; and creating automated manufacturing processes that help improve structural efficiencies,” Tracy said.

“We believe our collaboration with the university ultimately will strengthen Boeing’s competitiveness, bolster South Carolina’s prominence in the global aerospace arena and reinforce the institution’s stature as a research and development leader,” he said.

Nearly 30 years ago, the nation witnessed the Challenger tragedy on national television, Cheryl McNair reminded the audience.

“This partnership will assure that exciting research will be taking place here many years from now,” McNair said. “And in our view, Ron would have been extremely honored – very pleased to know that this center is dedicated to him.”

This story was originally published August 6, 2015 at 12:47 PM.