UAH part of team hosting international conference of the Association of University Research Parks in 2017

Judy Ryals of the Huntsville/Madison County Convention and Visitor's Bureau, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, CRP Director Erin Koshut, UAH President Robert Altenkirch, and Vickie Palmer, Director of Operations for the Association of University Research Parks.

Michael Mercier | UAH

The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), the City of Huntsville, the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County, the Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau, and leaders of Cummings Research Park (CRP) announced today that the city has been selected to host the 2017 Association of University Research Parks (AURP) International Conference in Fall 2017. This will be the first time this prestigious conference has been held in the Rocket City.

"Huntsville's Cummings Research Park is the perfect location for the AURP conference. Cummings Research Park has been a crown jewel for economic development in Alabama for more than five decades now," said Mayor Tommy Battle who co-chairs the 2017 planning committee. "The park has been responsible for helping develop some of mankind's greatest achievements in aerospace and other technical fields and is now taking leadership in emerging fields such as biotech, cyber security, and modeling and simulation. We are also in the middle of our plan for revitalizing the park. With such a distinguished past and bright future, it's no wonder why Huntsville and Cummings Research Park will host this conference."

AURP conference proceedings will be located entirely in Cummings Research Park-both at the new Student Services Building Conference facility located on The University of Alabama in Huntsville campus, the Shelby Center for Science and Technology, and the Westin Hotel located at Bridge Street Town Centre.

"As the anchor tenant of the nation's second-largest university research park, UAH has played a crucial role in attracting a major corporate presence in Cummings Research Park and leading Huntsville's advanced workforce development," said Robert Altenkirch, President of The University of Alabama in Huntsville and co-chair of the 2017 planning committee. "This international conference will provide an opportunity for others around the world to gain a better understanding of our community's phenomenal success."

The AURP conference organizers have always wanted to bring this collaborative conference to Huntsville. With our amazing outdoor activities like concerts in the park, food truck events, microbreweries and international visitor attractions like the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville is a prime destination for convention-goers!

"The Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau is thrilled that the city has been selected to host this conference in 2017. Many organizations have worked together to bring this prestigious conference here, and this is a great example of just how important local contacts are to bringing conferences, meetings, and trade shows to our city," said Judy Ryals, President and CEO of the Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau.

CRP has served as a shining example of how beneficial a university research park can be — both to the community and to companies.

"We are thankful that our community proposal was well received and look forward to a great 2017," said Erin Koshut, Director of Cummings Research Park. "AURP's board of directors and attendees of this conference will get to experience the ingenuity and beauty of our Park and our city. We look forward to showing it off."

Cummings Research Park has nearly 300 companies located within the Park. For more than five decades, Research Park companies, academic institutions and federal agencies have been developing advanced technologies and products that have changed our world. CRP tenants helped put man on the moon and bring him back, changed the way humans communicate with each other and with technology, and are developing cures and treatments for diseases that have baffled the world's leading doctors.

To learn more about AURP, please visit www.aurp.net.