While University of Alabama Systems Chancellor Malcolm Portera this week reduced UAH's profile by eliminating the school's only Division I sport, the Tuscaloosa campus has been expanding its role in areas once exclusive to UAH.

This month the Tuscaloosa campus of the University of Alabama opened a research office in Huntsville, allowing the Tuscaloosa campus to compete for military research dollars with the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

For 50 years, the research institute at UAH has used university resources to handle millions of dollars in research for NASA, the military and others.

In 2010 alone, UAH reported $82 million in research expenditures, with about half coming through the Department of Defense and another 20 percent from NASA.

Tuscaloosa, despite a shared role in the three-campus Alabama system, is now interested in the same defense dollars. Tuscaloosa reported spending just $33 million on sponsored research last year, with little work for NASA or the military.

But this month the Tuscaloosa campus hired Dr. Suzy Young to head up a new research advancement office in Huntsville. And Young knows the military.

She had most recently served as director of Advanced Science and Technology Directorate for the U.S Army and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center, which is listed as a "major customer" by the UAH Research Institute.

The hiring appeared to come as a surprise to many. When contacted by The Times on Tuesday, Ray Garner, spokesman for UAH, said he did not know Tuscaloosa was coming to town.

Even Portera, chancellor over all three Alabama schools and interim president at UAH, said on Monday he had no knowledge of the new office, although he spoke at the same symposium as Young on Tuesday. Both were on the program. She was listed with the title: Director of Research Advancement Huntsville, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa.

Young spoke Tuesday about robotics and unmanned aerial vehicles. One of her fellow panelists suggested researchers talk to Young to set up partnerships with Tuscaloosa.

Afterward, Young said she had been hired by Dr. Joe Benson, vice provost for research at Tuscaloosa. Benson did not return calls. A Tuscaloosa spokesperson said Young started Oct. 1 at $225,000 a year. Young said she didn't yet have an office or a phone number.

Competition among colleges for research grants is hardly new. But while discussing the possibility of cutting hockey at UAH, Portera has over the months referred to distinct roles for the three Alabama campuses.

UAH has long been considered a high-tech and engineering campus. The Birmingham campus has been viewed as the medical center. In fact, Portera has said that when a Huntsville entrepreneur, Jim Hudson, sought millions in state support for a biotech institute in Huntsville that would work closely with UAH, Portera fought the project and tried to steer the money to UAB.

But as UAH gives up its signature sports program, its also is losing ground in other areas.

Weather research seems to no longer be the exclusive domain of UAH, home to the Earth System Science Center, the state office of climatology and a top-10 atmospheric science program. Instead, late last month the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced plans to build an $18.8 million national water center on the Tuscaloosa campus.

As far as defense research, Georgia Tech has for decades operated a contracting office in Huntsville. That school lists 14 similar offices around the country. Auburn also opened a research office in Huntsville last year, its first away from the campus. Auburn's website notes that $30 billion in federal contracts flow through Huntsville each year.

Portera said he knew about both of those offices, but not the Tuscaloosa effort. "I don't know of that case," Portera told The Times.

On Monday, speaking to The Times, Portera repeated that there was "a new economic reality that we all face" and money for the expensive UAH hockey program - he estimated as much as $1.6 million per season - could be diverted toward tennis and soccer and nursing instructors.

That new "economic reality" did not apply to UAB or Tuscaloosa. When asked about the UAB football program, a financial drain, Portera said the hospital bolsters the UAB budget, allowing greater latitude for costly athletics.

When asked if cuts were considered at Tuscaloosa, Portera said the athletic department there, supported by championship football, actually makes money, bringing in $26 million.

"We don't have the resources here," he said of UAH.

Mayor Tommy Battle this week said it may be time to consider increasing local control for the Huntsville campus. The system's 15 trustees include no UAH graduates and only one Huntsville resident.

Portera has said it could cost $600,000 more to join a conference and pay for all expenses, including travel, to compete in Division I. Portera estimated more than $1.5 million total.

Hockey proponents, including former school board president Doug Martinson Jr. and City Council member Mark Russell, haven't given up, meeting with Portera late Tuesday to once again lobby unsuccessfully for hockey.

"Why do they need to spend all that on a chancellor and the chancellor's office if we're cutting back?" asked Martinson on Wednesday. "Each college has its own president."

As chancellor, Portera makes $500,000 a year. He did not receive extra pay nor move to Huntsville while serving as interim president at UAH. He has a $70,000 a year personal driver.

"He's turned down gifts from local people," said Martinson, referring to Portera's role in rejecting millions offered privately for a performing arts center at UAH. "He's not a fundraiser. I don't know what the purpose of the chancellor is."