A Place for Mutual Success

Space supports IALR growth and houses diverse companies and organizations

The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research was officially formed in 2002, and staff moved into the 90,000-square-foot main building in 2004. Intentionally designed for flexibility in purpose, the main building houses the IALR Conference Center, various research initiatives, several educational programs and even temporary (or rapid-launch) spaces for companies to rent.

In the years since then, IALR has transformed from a single building into a sprawling campus. Once the Navy’s National Training Center (the home of the Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing program) opens, the IALR campus will consist of seven buildings (plus multiple greenhouse facilities) and approximately 350,000 square feet of space.

While that growth has allowed the IALR team to expand, it also provides space for more external organizations to join the campus.

“Our campus serves as a nexus for researchers, entrepreneurs, education professionals, workforce and industry leaders to collaborate on projects that have real-world impact.” – Telly Tucker, IALR President

“I think we’ve all helped each other a lot. It’s been a great success, and hopefully there’s more to come.” – Alan Pearce, CEO, FasTech

The story of FasTech—a Danville-based metal additive manufacturing company—has been intertwined with IALR since the company’s beginnings.

Launched in 2018, FasTech started in a rapid-launch high bay in the main IALR building. Since then, the company has moved around the campus to accommodate its growth and technology needs – occupying a bay that is part of the Charles R. Hawkins Building and then moving into the Rapid Launch Building as soon as it opened in 2020.

“Our relationship is very symbiotic. If we weren’t at IALR, I don’t know how we would have ended up. The relationships and support have helped us significantly.” – Richie Barker, Chief Operating Officer, FasTech

Now, the company is working out of the IALR campus and partnering in the success of the Center for Manufacturing Advancement (CMA) – serving as one of the first customers and supporting the U.S. Navy’s Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence, a project located at the CMA.

With IALR focusing increasingly on additive manufacturing training and technology, FasTech’s pioneering role in this growing technology has positioned the company as a valuable partner to not only IALR but the larger Southern Virginia ecosystem.

Alan Pearce, CEO of FasTech, speaks with guests at an open house during the 2023 ATDM/AM CoE Summit hosted on the IALR campus.

“We’ve helped IALR grow, and they’ve helped us. It’s a marriage made in heaven. It’s been great for us all.” – Alan Pearce, CEO, FasTech

FasTech is one of many organizations that has benefitted from using rapid-launch space on the IALR campus.

BGF Industries, a manufacturer of high-performance fabrics and materials, has its corporate headquarters on the IALR campus, which includes the company’s administrative and sales offices and research and development center. BGF also has its primary manufacturing operation with several hundred employees in Altavista.

“The facilities have been great and allow us to have a multi-functional presence here. The labs here enable us to get testing done on various materials, evaluate new suppliers and test new developments for new solutions we’re coming out with.” – Joe Stackpoole, Market Development Manager NA, BGF Industries

Many of the companies that have utilized rapid-launch space have moved to their own facilities. Circ, a circular fashion technology company located in its own facility in the Dan River Business Development Center since 2023, has rented lab space and contracted various analytical chemistry services throughout its life cycle.

“The story of Circ is a great example of how IALR can play a role in supporting companies throughout their life cycle with a variety of services including office and research lab space.” – Telly Tucker, IALR President

“At IALR, the facilities and people are superb.” – Chris Lester, Ph.D., Owner, Lester Polymer Insights LLC

The Applied Research division at IALR provides unique services and opportunities to companies that choose to locate staff on campus. Seven companies – ranging from household names like Canon Virginia to startup entrepreneurs – rent space on the campus.

Companies can utilize a laboratory bench, desk space, greenhouse space, one of the Spatially and Mechanically Accurate Robotic Table (SMART) Platforms and the Advanced Materials Lab. The IALR research team also serves as a resource for many of these tenants.

“Every company faces unique challenges. We pride ourselves on offering customized research services that address specific goals, whether you’re an emerging startup or a global enterprise.” – Scott Lowman, Ph.D., Vice President, Applied Research, IALR

One of the companies currently utilizing a laboratory bench and the Advanced Materials Lab is Lester Polymer Insights, an independent consultant providing polymer science and engineering services to clients around the country and the world. Instead of building his own space, Lester, who has lived in Southern Virginia for much of his career, connected with the research team at IALR and decided to utilize existing resources and space on campus.

Chris Lester, Ph.D., Owner, Lester Polymer Insights LLC

“When you have a laboratory, you can do more things, and you have more value. Prospective clients see this place and take me very seriously.” – Chris Lester, Ph.D., Owner, Lester Polymer Insights LLC

Lester hopes to grow the company and bring additional employees to work with him on the IALR campus. He also plans to start his own manufacturing business in the next few years.

“I’ll do a lot of the laboratory work out of IALR,” he said.

However, more than just startups can benefit from utilizing research space at IALR. Growing companies like AgroSpheres – a Charlottesville-based company focused on environmentally friendly crop protection products – have researchers on campus leveraging the Analytical Chemistry Lab and SMART Platform to test RNAi biostimulants on various agricultural products, including tomatoes, peppers and canola.

“We have been working with IALR through the many growth stages of our company and could not have asked for better partners along the way. IALR’s state-of-the-art facilities and talented scientific team have helped us take our RNA technologies from lab to field.” – Ameer Shakeel, Founder & CTO, AgroSpheres.

Since 2022, Canon Virginia, Inc. (CVI) has been working on an agricultural project to monitor plant health in one of the IALR greenhouses. CVI uses its patent-pending imaging technology to monitor plant anomalies and external factors that can inhibit plant life, such as pests, disease and temperature.

The purpose of the research is to help discover symptoms of diseases at an early stage and identify plant health for growers. The protocol involves introducing anomalies to healthy plants that will ultimately affect their health.

Some of the Canon Virginia employees who have worked on the IALR campus. From left to right: Paul Risque, Joe Milhorn, Thomas Ortmann, Liane Sanders, Landes Sheets and Ben Welch.

“IALR has provided us the environment and expertise to grow plants under various stress conditions in an effort to understand how these stresses present themselves in the plants. IALR is unique in this capability, which is definitely something that we could not do at our commercial partner’s production facilities.” – Ben Welch, Principal Engineer, Business Development Engineering, Canon Virginia

Contact the Applied Research team.

“It’s a very organic partnership with IALR. Housing these programs at IALR extends our capacity to house more students and programs on our main campus.” – Cornelius H. Johnson, Ph.D., Interim President, Danville Community College

Having two STEM-focused, dual-enrollment programs housed on the IALR campus, full of innovative scientific research, is a logical connection.

“The students are exposed to research happening at IALR. It’s a good environment,” said Paul Fox, Ph.D., Dean of Arts, Science & Business at DCC.

DCC’s partnership with IALR goes beyond simply housing programs; it’s about expanding opportunities for learners and driving economic prosperity for the region. By jointly focusing on workforce training, education and other career programs, both organizations ensure the community has access to robust pathways into high-demand fields.

“Having so many educational partners in one place helps to create that pipeline for our community to grow and prosper. That’s so important to our region.” – Melissa Mann, Dean of Career & Technical Education, Danville Community College

It’s not just Danville Community College utilizing the IALR campus. IALR has a long-standing relationship with Virginia Tech. Dr. Kaylee South, an Assistant Professor of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) with the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences at Virginia Tech, is stationed full-time at IALR.

Kaylee South, Ph.D, an Assistant Professor of Controlled Environment Agriculture with Virginia Tech’s School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, is stationed full-time at IALR.

South conducts research in the CEA Innovation Center – a joint operation with IALR and Virginia Tech – and trains undergraduate and graduate students in CEA, typically working with several student employees and researchers at a given time. The center also serves as a catalyst for CEA industry growth and co-hosts the annual CEA Summit East.

“Being stationed at the IALR campus provides the opportunity to foster and carry out collaborations between Virginia Tech and IALR to develop and deliver research and outreach programs to better serve the CEA sector.” – Kaylee South, Ph.D, Assistant Professor of Controlled Environment Agriculture, Virginia Tech School of Plant and Environmental Sciences 

The largest program on the IALR campus, Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing (ATDM) is a rapid training program that prepares workers for careers that support the defense industrial base (DIB) and maritime industrial base (MIB) – the system of companies that produce parts and equipment for the U.S. military. ATDM is a consortium among strategic partners such as the U.S. Department of Defense, IALR (contracted program administrator and host), Danville Community College (curriculum partner), The SPECTRUM Group (strategy partner) and Phillips Corporation (technology partner).

Phillips Corporation’s presence on campus has only grown as the company not only installs and maintains equipment for the ATDM program but also has 12 employees stationed inside the Center for Manufacturing Advancement as part of the U.S. Navy’s Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence (AM CoE).

The Phillips team – which also includes engineers supporting the project remotely – serves as the principal for the additive manufacturing processes, part selection process and part digitization in the AM CoE. This includes the installation and qualification of powder bed fusion (PBF) and wire arc-directed energy disposition equipment and processes.

“For years, Phillips has been working to convince our customers that additive manufacturing is something they should look into. With our work in the AM CoE project on the IALR campus, now we’re demonstrating numerous manufacturing applications rather than just offering a sales pitch and trying to convince a customer this is something they should try.” – Rick Morgan, Managing Program Director, Phillips Corporation

A condensed version of the additive manufacturing track of ATDM, the Naval Aviation School for Additive Manufacturing (NASAM) is a six-week program that provides active-duty Navy and Marine Corps maintenance personnel with foundational skills in additive manufacturing. This Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) program offers instruction for the deployed additive manufacturing technologies and prepares the end users to utilize and maximize those capabilities.

And with five cohorts already graduated and more scheduled, the program is already a “resounding success, and IALR is a huge reason for that,” said CAPT Alexander Peabody, Senior Fleet Liaison, NAVAIR Additive Manufacturing.

CAPT Alexander Peabody, Senior Fleet Liaison, NAVAIR Additive Manufacturing.

“When we were looking to home our school for additive manufacturing, we needed an organization that possessed an eager and knowledgeable staff, clean and modern facilities, and a sound aptitude for training, IALR embodied all of those characteristics and more.” – CAPT Alexander Peabody, Senior Fleet Liaison, NAVAIR Additive Manufacturing.

IALR’s mission is to be a catalyst for economic transformation. The organization employs many strategies and tactics to drive that mission, one of those being economic development. More specifically, IALR’s economic development team works to recruit and retain businesses in the region to provide excellent employment opportunities for current and future residents and to grow the tax base.

The Southern Virginia Regional Alliance (SVRA) is a key player in the region’s economic development landscape. SVRA is a collaborative effort administered by IALR, which includes representatives from Halifax, Patrick and Pittsylvania counties as well as the City of Danville.

This alliance works closely with IALR to attract businesses to the region. In fact, IALR’s campus is usually the first stop when regional economic developers showcase Southern Virginia to prospective businesses. This gives potential companies a glimpse of the resources, talent and partnerships available in the region.

After Microporous’ recent announcement that it would become the first company to locate in the Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill, it even hosted an intimate reception and celebration with community leaders at the IALR Conference Center. 

Microporous, a leading manufacturer of battery separators that will create 2,015 new jobs and invest $1.35 billion in a Southern Virginia facility, visited IALR many times while considering Southern Virginia and hosted a reception at the IALR Conference Center after its announcement.

“When recruiting new companies to Southern Virginia, IALR’s ability to provide a variety of support, ranging from testing and analytical services to temporary space to collaboration opportunities, is a major selling point.” – Linda Green, Southern Virginia Regional Alliance Executive Director, IALR Vice President of Economic Development

Linda Green, IALR Vice President of Economic Development, shows a prospect around one of the IALR’s many rapid launch spaces available for temporary business use.

IALR also serves as the hub for many economic developers working in Southern Virginia.

“I work out of IALR almost as much as out of my office in Chatham. Having so many of our economic developers in one place allows us to share information quickly, strategize effectively and better serve our community.” – Matt Rowe, Economic Development Director, Pittsylvania County

The Danville Pittsylvania County Chamber of Commerce, another organization focused on improving the economy by supporting business growth, moved its offices into the IALR campus in 2022.

“There are so many economic development relationships within this building to help recruit new business and industry to our region. It’s special and convenient.” – Anne Moore-Sparks, President and CEO, Danville Pittsylvania County Chamber of Commerce

Advancing Southern Virginia Together

With each new partnership and program, IALR deepens its commitment to the growth of Southern Virginia. This campus is a gathering place for those dedicated to building a brighter future for the region.

“Our campus is built on the belief that when we collaborate with great partners to unite education, research and industry, we can create meaningful opportunities that lift us all.” – Telly Tucker, IALR President

Interested in partnering with IALR? Let us know.