Both Oklahoma State University (OSU) and the University of Oklahoma (OU) are seeing new projects and new research do their part to broaden and deepen the state's economy.
   In July 2006, the Oklahoma Technology and Research Park, a joint initiative of the City of Stillwater, Meridian Technology Center and OSU, announced it had received $5 million for the construction of a new building on the park's campus. The accelerator building will be the next- phase facility for companies leaving the park's incubator. The funding was part of $40 million in funding to OSU approved by the 2006 legislature. The park will eventually house more than 1 million sq. ft. (92,900 sq. m.) of lab and office space, and has aspirations of supporting the employment of as many as 3,000 people.
   OU in fiscal year 2006 saw its external funding for research set a new record, closing out at nearly $239 million, $17 million higher than in 2005. The University of Oklahoma Research Campus in Norman is growing too. The $52- million, 195,000- sq.- ft. development of the Stephenson Research and Technology Center is producing space devoted to interdisciplinary programs in the biosciences, bioengineering, and the OU Supercomputing Center, including a biological lab level 3 to support homeland security research.
   That sector is the driving force behind the establishment of the Cyber Security Education Consortium at the University of Tulsa, another of the aforementioned 33 Advanced Technological Education (ATE) centers sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The CSEC includes Oklahoma's Career and Technology Education System, Oklahoma City Community College, Oklahoma State University- Okmulgee, Rose State College, Tulsa Community College and the University of Tulsa, which serves as principal mentor to the CSEC two- year institutions.
   What's more, the CSEC is looking to expand beyond its home state's borders, with announced plans to build an information security work force in the entire region from CSEC outposts in Albuquerque, N.M., Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas; Bentonville, Ark.; Kansas City, Mo.; Andover AFB in Wichita, Kan.; and Denver, Colo.