Army Cuts Ribbon on West Coast Research Lab at USC ICT

Declaring it a great day for USC, the Army and the nation, leaders from USC, the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense and the White House marked the official opening of ARL West with a ribbon cutting ceremony at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies in Playa Vista, the new home of ARL West.
“I’m excited that today we open a facility dedicated to the art of the possible where the next “ah ha” moment could happen, leading to game changing discoveries and innovations that will forever change mankind,” said Dr. Thomas Russell, director of ARL, in his ribbon cutting remarks.
Joining Dr. Russell in cutting the official ribbon were Lt. Gen. Larry Wyche, deputy commanding general of the U.S. Army Materiel Command; Maj. Gen. John F. Wharton, commanding general of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command; C.L. Max Nikias, USC President; Dr. Melissa Flagg, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research; Dr. Chris Fall, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Assistant Director for Defense Programs;  and Dr. Randall W. Hill, Jr., executive director of ICT.
ARL West, the Army’s largest university research lab and the first one west of the Mississippi, represents a new model for Army, academic and industry partnerships that aims to spur innovation by opening access to Army labs. It is also part of a larger DoD strategy to increase collaboration with top scientists and engineers in California.  ARL West will leverage ICT, USC and regional expertise in areas including virtual reality, data visualization and human-robot interaction.
“ARL West’s open campus means USC’s outstanding scientists and engineers will work side by side with the best and brightest from the Army and from the regional tech industry,” said USC President C.L. Max Nikias in his remarks. “Whether through data analysis, robotics, wearable electronics, or virtual reality headsets, we expect this joint venture to carve new roads that no map-maker could anticipate.”
Approximately 300 people from the military, academia and industry attended the opening day activities, which included an open-house with talks, tech demos and research presentations.
See photos of the day on our Facebook page.
LA Tech Digest and ABC 7 also covered the event.