May 9, 2024

A day years in the making arrives Friday with the official groundbreaking for Dakota State University’s Applied Research Lab.

“To have us get to the point that it’s going to become reality is major,” DSU president José-Marie Griffiths said, adding there’s a sense of relief “that we’re finally getting to this critical milestone.”

Renderings by Architecture Incorporated

In an era where much highly technical work can and is performed anywhere, this building represents a critical exception. Work requiring high levels of government security clearance can be done only in buildings specifically designed and approved to accommodate it.

Most of those are in the Washington, D.C., area or on the West Coast. Look at a national map of cyberactivity and “there literally was very, very little if anything in the middle of the country,” Griffiths said.

“The idea was could we fill in the gap … not just for South Dakota but into some of the surrounding states as well. And now dirt is out of the ground, and soon we’ll see the structure go up, and that will be exciting to people, and they can start planning.”

The estimated $62.5 million project was funded with support from a donation by Denny Sanford and is located at the Sanford Sports Complex near Sanford Health’s future Virtual Care Center. It officially breaks ground at 3:30 p.m. Friday.

Since it first was announced in 2022, “the need for people to be in a secure facility is still there,” Griffiths said. “And nothing else has been built in the region, so the demand for that kind of work is just increasing.”

While the ribbon-cutting for the 100,000-square-foot building likely won’t be until early 2026, conversations with entities that will partner there with DSU already are ongoing.

The Dakota State University Applied Research Corporation, or DARC, led by CEO Andrea Thompson and chief operating officer Stacy Kooistra, has been incorporated as a nonprofit organization separate from DSU, allowing business development for the Applied Research Lab to move ahead in parallel with construction.

“The priority is marketing and branding nationally,” said Thompson, a South Dakota native who spent more than 25 years in the Army as an intelligence officer, including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, ultimately serving as deputy assistant to the president and national security adviser to the vice president of the U.S., under secretary of state for arms control and international security and vice president of international programs at Northrop Grumman.

“We’re building the framework to hire cyber engineers and getting the message out to companies that are looking for our work.”

Interest grows once companies “realize the pipeline,” she continued. “It’s not only about what DARC will provide, but if they need more cyber experts, we’re affiliated with DSU, and we can hire the next graduating class. That so far has been the ‘aha’ moment for the companies.”

The new building also represents a chance for cybersecurity professionals to relocate to South Dakota, Griffiths said.

“There are people in the workforce around the country who would like to come to South Dakota to do this work,” she said.

The lab will be agile, Thompson added. Companies will be able to contract to have cybersecurity engineers look into certain technologies as they develop, in addition to areas such as penetration testing to determine network vulnerabilities and software development to create the kinds of tools necessary for cybersecurity. Even before the new building in Sioux Falls is open, there’s capacity to do the same high-level work with security clearance at the DSU Cyber Labs in Madison.

“Once they see what DSU graduates can do and where we can do it and the facility here and the economic foundation that’s here in the state, it’s really appealing,” Thompson said. “It’s bigger than DARC. We’re going to build a tech hub here that’s going to outlast you and me.”

Architecture Incorporated is the architect, and Journey Construction is the general contractor on the project. DSU also has enough land adjacent to the building for future development.

For Griffiths, the building is positioned to serve as “a magnetic force. For the resources and the people,” she said.

“It did take a village. It took a town — it took two towns, Madison and Sioux Falls … a lot of people engaged — politicians, legislators, philanthropists, community leaders — and that says something. This is a large portion of the South Dakota community coming together and buying into a vision.”