St. Cloud State University has been awarded a new technology grant.

The university announced that they have received a National Science Foundation grant for $7 million dollars along with five other partner agencies to fund a National Center for Autonomous Technologies.

The NCAT will focus on air, land, and sea autonomous technologies: unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), connected automated vehicles (CAV), and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV).

The NCAT Center has four core areas of engagement; to educate the educators, to promote student involvement, engage the workforce and community, and to act as an education hub for autonomous technology across the country.

SCSU will spend its share on expanding support for DroneTECH Educator Workshops. These workshops bring in secondary and post-secondary instructors to learn about unmanned aircraft systems and geospacial technologies.

The College of Science and Engineering and Visualization Lab will lead the way on the development of the web side and the School of Public Affairs will provide a look at labor supply and demand stats for autonomous technology industries.

SCSU has been a leader of geospatial technologies for over 25 years.