Environmental Research Institute of Michigan
The Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM) was a research institute at Ann Arbor, Michigan, founded in 1972. The institute contributed to the development of remote sensing, radar, and holography. ERIM grew out of a military and environmental research arm of the University of Michigan, the Michigan Aeronautical Research Center, later known as the Willow Run Research Center.
A for-profit enterprise, ERIM International, split off from it in 1997. This was successively acquired by Veridian Corporation, by
History
The Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM) began as Willow Run Laboratories in 1946, but was established as a private
Willow Run Laboratories
Prior to Willow Run Laboratories's establishment in 1946, with the Cold War just beginning, the War Department was concerned about keeping the U.S. in the forefront of applied science. University researchers newly returned from WWII service were anxious to use their expertise to address those concerns.[3]
At the University of Michigan's College of Engineering, Professors
During the Vietnam War, protesters at the University of Michigan forced the University to sever formal ties with Willow Run Laboratories. Research from ERIM provided technology for military surveillance, as well as information and models for better prediction and understanding of floods, fires, agricultural crops and remotely sensed information, including studies of the Bering Glacier.
Key technologies
ERIM became well known in the
ERIM played key-roles in the development and implementation of
Corporate history
In 1997, claiming an inability to compete with for-profit industry, President Peter Banks and ERIM's board of trustees spun off a for-profit subsidiary under the name ERIM International, Incorporated. Nearly all of ERIM's R&D work and contracts moved to the for-profit entity, while the buildings, property, and a small fraction of personnel and contracts were retained by the not-for-profit ERIM. Banks and many board members allotted themselves high numbers of shares in the new for-profit venture, which were exercised for considerable sums when ERIM International, Inc. was sold to Veridian Corp. of Washington, D.C. in 1999. Veridian was later bought by General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems in 2003, and the heritage-ERIM part of the organization became its Michigan Research and Development Center (MRDC) and moved from Ann Arbor to nearby Ypsilanti. Proceeds from the sale of ERIM International were used by the not-for-profit ERIM to acquire Center for Electronic Commerce (CEC), another Ann Arbor not for profit in 1998.[2] ERIM acquired Vector Research, Inc. (VRI) in 2001 to form the Altarum Institute,[4] headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
On October 1, 2006, Michigan Technological University purchased the Altarum Institute's Environmental and Emerging Technologies Division (EETD), which was mostly comprised by the heritage-ERIM portion of the Institute, to form the Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI). The Altarum Institute is a nonprofit now solely focused on health systems research,[3] while the environmental and remote sensing research continues at MTRI.
On October 3, 2014,
See also
- Remote Sensing
- University of Michigan
- Michigan Technological University
References
- ^ University of Michigan Engineering School: Former CoE Lab Endows New Professorship
- ^ a b What's ERIM? Secretive Past, Automotive Future
- ^ a b c History of the Michigan Tech Research Institute.
- ^ Vector Research Acquired by ERIM
- ^ "MDA completes strategic capability acquisition in the United States". Archived from the original on 2015-06-23. Retrieved 2015-06-23.