Tallahassee Democrat 07/25/2012
WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 2012
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PROMOTING
DEMOCRACY
1905to
| TALLAHASSEE.COM
1st DCA
rejects
prison
appeal
Powerful magnets
Prison privatization appeal
thrown out on technicality:
Bondi has no standing to file
By Arek Sarkissian II
Florida Capital Bureau
@TDSarkissian on Twitter
Mag lab employees work on a magnet they are producing for the Helmholtz Center Berlin, a research center. Among the
more than 300 employed at the Mag Lab in Tallahassee are academics in physics, chemistry and biology in addition to
electricians, machinists, instrument makers and control-room operators. SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT
FSU’s Mag Lab on
target for NSF grant
Disbursement of more
than $160 million subject
to approval by Congress
MAG LAB
BY THE
NUMBERS
By Doug Blackburn
National Science Foundation funding
2008-12
$156.7
MILLION —
Democrat senior writer
The National High Magnetic
Field Laboratory at Florida State
is set to receive a five-year renewal grant of more than $160 million
from the National Science Foundation, as much as 10 percent more
than the world-renowned lab got
in its most recent five-year funding.
The 20-year-old facility, located
in Innovation Park in southwest
Tallahassee, also received an additional $3 million from the state in
the current budget. It is the only
national laboratory in Florida.
“We’re more than thrilled,”
FSU President Eric Barron said.
“The fact that the state provided
support is a significant factor. It
also shows how happy the (Mag
Lab) users are, how happy the National Science Foundation is with
all the records we are breaking.”
The National Science Board,
the policy-making arm of the NSF,
has recommended full funding for
the Mag Lab, which will become
official when all contracts are
signed. The annual disbursements
are subject to approval by Congress. NSF approved $156.7 million for the Mag Lab from 2008
through 2012.
The funding renewal, coming
on the heels of six straight years of
budget cuts from the state, is the
equivalent of a walk-off grand
slam for Kirby Kemper, FSU’s
vice president for research whose
retirement takes effect next
month. Kemper said last fall when
he announced his plan to leave
440,000 —
square feet of
space at the
lab’s three
locations
$5.2
The 1st District Court of Appeal has rejected
the state’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that
found a 2011 Florida prison privatization plan
unconstitutional.
The order, released Tuesday morning, dismissed the appeal on a procedural point that Attorney General Pam Bondi could not present the
case alone. Because the original lawsuit’s order
was entered against the Department of Corrections, and the Office of the Attorney General
was not a party to the case, Bondi’s office had no
standing with the court to file the appeal.
Bondi’s office released a statement that the case was pursued at
the request of the Legislature and
that she respectfully disagrees
with the ruling.
The original lawsuit by the Florida Police Benevolent Association
and three corrections officers
challenged the 2011 Legislature’s
budget language directing the DeBondi
partment of Corrections to put out
to bid and award a contract to privatize prison
operations in 18 South Florida counties.
Leon County Circuit Court Judge Jackie L.
Fulford ruled the way lawmakers enacted the
language — as part of the budget, rather than as
a stand-alone bill — was unconstitutional. The
appeal’s aim was academic. The 2011-12 budget
that contained the privatization language Fulford ruled against expired with the state’s fiscal
year on June 30.
Proponents presented the privatization plan
again during the 2012 session, but the standalone bill failed in the Senate. In the meantime,
Bondi filed the circuit court case for appeal.
In the ruling released Tuesday, 1st District
Appeals Chief Judge Robert T. Benton II, writing for the unanimous three-judge panel that
MILLION — the
Mag Lab’s 2010
electric bill
See APPEAL » 2A
$1 MILLION —
the Mag Lab’s
2008 helium
and nitrogen
bill
360 — Mag
LI VE TODAY ON
TALLAHASSEE.COM
Lab employees
(300 in Tallahassee)
36 PERCENT
Lu Li, an assistant professor of physics at the University of
Michigan, has visited the Mag Lab in Tallahassee 15 times since
2004. SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT
— portion of
employees with
a doctoral
degree
50 — countries
represented by
Mag Lab staff
35 TONS —
National
High
Magnetic
Field
Laboratory
at Florida
State
University.
weight of the
lab’s hybrid
magnet
4 MILES —
length of superconducting
wire in the
magnet
DEMOCRAT
FILES
Source: FSU
National High
Magnetic Field
Laboratory
Akinyemi
Fritz
Lindley
Varn
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allahassee
stand on the unconstitulaw.
“This case does not tionality of budget lanserve asDemocrat
precedent 07/25/2012
to lim- guage establishing subTallahassee
it or curtail the power of stantive policy.
ERVICE
in staff on the state payroll.
The Department of
Corrections already elim-
said of privatization.
“Things change day to
day, and right now it’s justPage : A02
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ecycles
FSU after a 41-yeaer career with the university,
that shepherding through
the NSF grant for the Mag
Lab was his top priority.
“I had three sleepless
nights knowing the science board was meeting,
but it was worth it. I’ve
been celebrating all day
with a cup of coffee,”
Kemper said.
The Mag Lab, which
FSU shares with the University of Florida and Los
Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, employs between 325 and 350
scientists and support
staff, depending on the
number of graduate students working there during any one semester. The
high-powered magnets at
the laboratory are used
for everything from brain
imaging to developing
new materials for studying the oil spill.
“If you can think of a
way to use a magnet,
that’s what we do,” Kemper said. “We’re the complete shop.”
It is difficult to overstate the impact of the
Mag Lab on the local econ-
Michael Davidson, a research scientist at the FSU Mag Lab, uses a high-powered
microscope to produce spectacular images of ordinary objects and make them into works
of art. Many of these images have been sold to pay for lab equipment. DEMOCRAT FILES
omy.
Karen Moore, chair of
the Economic Development Council of Tallahassee/Leon County, called
the Mag Lab both a regional and an international treasure.
“When you think of Tallahassee, you think it’s a
wonderful place to live, a
wonderful place to raise a
family. We always have to
remember that we are in a
community that has an international resource in
our backyard that is one
of the biggest drivers of
economic development in
our area,” Moore said.
Greg Boebinger, director of the Mag Lab, noted
that university officials
spent almost a year completing the proposal for
the NSF, which was submitted in August 2011.
“It’s a difficult time
across the country with
tight budgets, not just in
Florida. It’s my job to never take (the funding) for
granted, because there is
nothing guaranteed,” he
said. “To me, this renewal
grant is a huge landmark.”
Barron noted that every month the Mag Lab
brings scores of scientists
to
Tallahassee
from
around the world.
“It’s a huge part of our
portfolio, plus it’s an attractor of bright people,”
Barron said. “We’re going
to do our best to hire more
people in that area.”
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