What do IU and the Military have in common?

By Kirk White

IU has forged partnerships with the Indiana National Guard (ING) on their efforts at the Guard’s Camp Atterbury-Muscatatuck Center for Complex Operations (CAMCCO) to brief and train personnel deploying to Afghanistan on issues related to language, cultural sensitivity, and governance.   The Guard has been entrusted with the responsibility of developing and providing training programs for both civilian and military personnel engaged in various assistance programs for developing nations. 

Under the partnership agreement, IU is assisting in the development these programs by providing a wide cross-section of faculty subject matter experts to serve as consultants, trainers, and instructors. Subject areas include languages, culture and customs and rules of law in counter-insurgency operations.  

 A key program currently under way involves training provincial reconstruction teams for deployment to Afghanistan.  IU is providing trainers to teach Afghan languages and culture to members of these military/civilian teams before they deploy overseas.  

Additionally, IU has partnered Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center – Crane, Indiana on the Advanced Linear Accelerator (LINAC) Facility, located at the IU Cyclotron in Bloomington. This project includes upgrades to the linear accelerator formerly based at Crane, a project that has already brought in $7.83 million in federal funding.   IU is currently expanding its partnership with NSWC Crane to include specialized areas of IU faculty expertise in Information Technology and Informatics, including modeling, simulation, cyber security and data mining.