MOFFETT FIELD -- A record $330 million contract that creates a research partnership between the University of California and NASA's Ames Research Center is forging a new type of collaboration between universities and the space agency, officials said Monday.

"I'm convinced that this is what the nation needs," said M.R.C. Greenwood, chancellor of University of California, Santa Cruz, which will manage the contract for UC. "The time for the truly separate lab and university is long gone in my view, and this is something that will be contagious around the nation."

NASA announced last week that it had awarded a 10-year contract worth more than $330 million to UC to create a University Affiliated Research Center. The center -- a first for NASA -- will bring UC's research capabilities to bear on issues important to NASA's core mission, said G. Scott Hubbard, director of Ames Research Center.

It is believed to be the largest contract ever awarded to UC.
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As part of the contract, NASA will give the research center specific tasks that will be completed by UC scientists. Typically, universities focus more on fundamental research, Hubbard said.

Hubbard said the research center will "focus the spotlight on areas of intense interest to NASA," such as information technology and computer science, nanotechnology and aerospace operations, as well as astrobiology, biotechnology and fundamental space biology.

Research will be conducted both at the Ames center and UC campuses.

UC students and faculty will also work closely with NASA scientists, helping train a new generation of scientists and engineers, Hubbard said.

Greenwood said the center helps build on areas of expertise in UC Santa Cruz's schools of science and engineering. She said UC's partnership with NASA is unlike any in the country.

NASA is also working to develop a 200-acre research and education park at Moffett Field that will include centers from San Jose State University, the Foothill-De Anza Community College District and Carnegie Mellon University. Hubbard said the research center is separate from that initiative, but there could be future collaborations between the research park and the center.