Loh Invited to Tour Pax River Naval Facility

Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (Md.-5) and UMD President Wallace Loh recently visited Naval Air Station Patuxent River. At Congressman Hoyer’s invitation, President Loh and a delegation from the UMD attended a briefing and tour of the facilities.

“I want to thank President Loh for visiting NAS Patuxent River today so that he could see firsthand the talent and world-class capabilities of Pax River,” stated Congressman Hoyer. “The future of Pax River depends on a highly-skilled workforce, and I’m pleased President Loh and NAVAIR leadership could come together today to discuss growing opportunities for partnering on education and research efforts and how we can ensure our students have the education and training so they can find work and we can meet the needs of our local defense community.”

President Loh and the University delegation were welcomed by Commander of NAVAIR Admiral David Architzel and received a command overview from Vice Commander of NAVAIR Admiral Steven Eastburg and Executive Director of NAWC-AD Gary Kessler. President Loh and the delegation toured several facilities, including the Advanced Systems Integration Lab, the Manned Flight Simulator, and the Horizontal Accelerator Facility. Following the overview and tour, President Loh, the delegation, and NAVAIR leadership participated in a working lunch to continue discussing collaboration between the University of Maryland and NAS Patuxent River.

“This briefing makes clear that we can strengthen our already robust partnership with Pax River, and benefit our students, faculty and the community,” said Loh. “These relationships are vital to our national security and to the state of Maryland. The University delegation is grateful to Congressman Hoyer, Delegate Bohanan and Admiral Architzel for providing such an informative briefing and tour.”

Currently, UMD and NAVAIR are partnering on joint education and research efforts, including programs in the Clark School. Congressman Hoyer will continue to work with UMD and NAVAIR leadership teams on opportunities to partner on research, innovation, and workforce development.

Published August 6, 2012