Defense

Proposed Recipient: Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership/MASS-MEP
100 Grove Street, Worcester, MA 01605

Amount Requested: $5 million
 
Explanation of project, including purposes and why is a valuable use of taxpayer funds:

The “New England Defense Manufacturing Job Creation and Supply Chain Initiative” addresses the Department of Defense’s need for rapid response to the surge of demand for machine tooled parts and systems. Several recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports have reaffirmed problems the Defense Department is still having with maintaining inventories and in finding spare parts necessary for the maintenance of current weapons system readiness and in meeting surge demands. This project is a valuable use of taxpayer funds because it will create or retain up to 200 defense manufacturing jobs and use New England suppliers and minimize the military’s risk from supply chain disruptions, obsolescence, and battlefield back orders for machined parts.

Proposed Recipient: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA 01609

Amount Requested: $4.7 million
 
Explanation of project, including purpose and why this is a valuable use of taxpayer funds:
The “Center for Neuroprosthetics and BioMEMS Project” at Worcester Polytechnic Institute aims to improve prosthetic motion control and nervous system feedback, facilitate bone and soft tissue integration leading to better prosthetic function, improve infection control, and enable re-wiring of severed nerves through advanced generation of prosthetic limbs and organs integrated with and controlled by the patient’s nervous system. One facet of this work that distinguishes it from other efforts is the focus on amputees who cannot be fitted with conventional socket attachment technology because the remaining limb is too short to hold the external prosthesis. This is a valuable use of taxpayer funds because it would achieve rapid and complete recovery and improved quality of life for military personnel who have lost limbs or organs due to battlefield injuries, reduce the cost of their long-term care by providing better prosthetic function and improved infection control, and allow highly trained military personnel to return as contributing members to active military duty or to their communities.