RCW 28B.156.030 Board of directors—Membership—Powers and duties—Executive director—Operating plan—Report.

(1)(a) The powers of the joint center for deployment and research in earth-abundant materials are vested in and shall be exercised by a board of directors consisting of ten voting members and a chair, appointed by the governor, who shall not vote, except as provided in (c) of this subsection.

(b) Of the ten voting members, one member must be the dean of Washington State University, one member must be the dean of the University of Washington, one member must represent Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, one member must represent an energy institute at a regional university, one member must represent the community colleges engaged in training of the next generation workforce in the relevant areas, one member must represent large industry companies, one member must represent medium industry companies, one member must represent small industry companies, one member must have professional experience in the fields of national security and energy policy, and one member shall have professional experience in innovation and development of policy to address environmental challenges.

(c) In the event of a tie vote among the voting members, the chair may vote to break the tie.

(d) The terms of the initial members must be staggered.

(2) The board shall hire an executive director. The executive director shall hire such staff as the board deems necessary to operate the joint center for deployment and research in earth-abundant materials. Staff support may be provided from among the cooperating institutions through cooperative agreements to the extent funds are available. The executive director may enter into cooperative agreements for programs and research with public and private organizations including state and nonstate agencies consistent with policies of the participating institutions.

(3) The board shall:

(a) Work with the clean technology and transportation industry associations and firms of all sizes to identify the research areas that will benefit the intermediate and long-term economic vitality of Washington's clean technology and transportation industries;

(b) Identify entrepreneurial researchers to join or lead research teams in the research areas specified in (a) of this subsection and the steps the University of Washington and Washington State University will take to recruit and retain such researchers;

(c) Assist firms to integrate existing technologies into their operations and align the activities of the joint center for deployment and research in earth-abundant materials with those of impact Washington to enhance services available to clean technology and transportation firms;

(d) Develop internships, on-the-job training, research, and other opportunities and ensure that all undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in programs for clean technology and earth-abundant research and deployment-related curriculum have direct experience with the industry;

(e) Assist researchers and firms in safeguarding intellectual property while advancing industry innovation;

(f) Develop and strengthen university-industry relationships through promotion of faculty collaboration with industry and sponsor at least one annual symposium focusing on clean energy earth-abundant research and deployment in the state of Washington;

(g) Encourage a full range of projects from small research projects that meet the specific needs of a smaller company to large scale, multipartner projects;

(h) Develop nonstate support of the center's research activities through leveraging dollars from federal and private for-profit and nonprofit sources;

(i) Leverage its financial impact through joint support arrangements on a project-by-project basis as appropriate;

(j) Establish mechanisms for soliciting and evaluating proposals and for making awards and reporting on technological progress, financial leverage, and other measures of impact;

(k) Allocate appropriated seed funds for at least one of the following purposes:

(i) Collaboration on research and product development that would further the commercialization of renewable energy and battery storage technologies that use earth-abundant materials in place of critical materials or rare earth elements;

(ii) Collaboration on research for joining dissimilar materials in a way that minimizes titanium content by employing earth-abundant materials for advanced manufacturing commercialization;

(iii) Collaboration on research and deployment of technologies and processes that facilitate reclamation and recycling of rare-earth elements from existing products; and

(iv) Providing assistance to community colleges and trade schools in program development and equipment for training the skilled workforce necessary for the successful commercialization and integration of earth-abundant technologies, as the workforce training needs are defined by forthcoming deployment opportunities;

(l)(i) By December 1, 2015, develop an operating plan that includes the specific processes, methods, or mechanisms the center will use to accomplish each of its duties as set out in this subsection (3);

(ii) The operating plan must also include appropriate performance metrics to measure total research dollars leveraged, total researchers involved, total workforce trained, and total number of products or processes that have progressed to commercialization and private sector deployment; and

(m)(i) Report biennially to the legislature and the governor about the impact of the center's work on the state's economy and the development of next generation clean energy and transportation technologies in Washington using earth-abundant materials. The report must include performance metrics results, projections of future impact, indicators of its current impact, and ideas for enhancing benefits to the state.

(ii) The report must be coordinated with the governor's office and the department of commerce.

[ 2015 3rd sp.s. c 20 § 4.]