Question 2: Voting yes could help fight terrorism

Question 2: Voting yes could help fight terrorism

Question 2 is about more than paying for a new chemistry building at the University of Rhode Island or renovations to an arts center at Rhode Island College. Voting yes could also help the country fight terrorism.

The ballot question asks voters to approve a $78 million bond—$61 million for URI and $17 million for the arts center. At URI, the money would fund the construction of a new chemistry building and lab that, at 120,000 square feet, is double the size of the current building, which dates back to the 1950s. It will have a capacity for 1,900 students. The current building can hold 1,200.

The new chemistry building will have additional space and facilities that will not only benefit students in chemistry and other programs, but will also help the University of Rhode Island work with the Department of Homeland Security in developing new technologies that make it easier to stop terrorist acts on U.S. soil.

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About more than academics

“We’re not just talking about scientists in a lab doing things for academic papers. These are people on the front lines providing vital information to the field,” said Anthony Amore, a URI alum and former assistant director for the Transportation Security Administration, at Boston Logan and T.F. Green airports.

The U.S. Homeland Security Department designated the University of Rhode Island a Center of Excellence in Explosives Detection, Mitigation, and Response, bringing an initial grant of $5.5 million in 2008, and an annual infusion of $1 to $2 million since.

‘Sniffers’ can detect molecules in hidden bombs

The money is being used to develop new and better ways of detecting the molecules in explosives. That research will lead to the development of the next generation of sensors—known as “sniffers”—which could detect a bomb in an airport, train station, bus stop, and even bridges or highways, according to Bill Euler, the chair of the Chemistry Department. “If we could do this inexpensively and unobtrusively then you can do all of your transportation modalities,” Euler said.

He said the new building will devote 5,000 square feet of lab and administrative space to the program.

He said the existing building was built according to a design dating back to the 1930s. “Obviously things have changed in the last 80 years,” Euler said. “There are certain things we can’t do because of the limitations and the new building will solve that problem.”

For more information about Question 2, click here.