Rep. Russo Announces More than Half Million Dollars in Tech Funding for Ohio Higher Education

COLUMBUS- State Rep. Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) announced that the State Controlling Board approved $578,135 in funds for the Ohio State University to purchase updated hardware for the Ohio Supercomputer Center and Integrated Tech Infrastructure Project, as well as to make building improvements to campus research facilities.

“Providing Ohio schools and students with the best technology resources available is crucial to ensuring Ohio remains competitive in STEM fields and continues to attract the next generation of talented engineers, scientists, and innovators to our state,” said Rep. Russo. “These capital improvements are not only an investment in our higher education institutions, they are an investment in our future.”

The Ohio Supercomputer Center enables Ohio's higher education institutions and industries to perform leading-edge science and engineering by providing high performance supercomputing systems. As science, technology, and engineering advance, the need for larger and more powerful computer systems is vital to meet the demands of Ohio's top researchers.

$240,000 of the approved funds will also be allocated to the Shared Systems Infrastructure at the Ohio Technology Consortium, which is a division of the Ohio Department of Higher Education responsible for providing technology infrastructure to Ohio’s state colleges and universities, including Ohio Academic Resources Network, eStudent Services, and OhioLINK. Funds will also be used to address building envelope deficiencies in the Ohio State University’s Veterinary Medicine Academic building.

Other approved items include:

1.       $6,250,132 for the Clean Ohio Trail Fund (COTF) Grants statewide

2.      $280,000 to the administration of Ohio’s GEAR UP grant

3.      $272,950 to the renewal of the Navigate 360 Scanning System for Ohio Schools