NASA is partnering with UC Santa Cruz and Foothill-De Anza Community College to build a green research campus in Silicon Valley, Mercury News reports.

The partnership is the result of years of negotiation between the federal government, academic institutions and private companies.

Construction on the project is expected to break ground sometime between 2012 and 2014 and is expected to bring jobs to the Valley.

Both UCSC and Foothill-De Anza plan to send faculty and students to the campus to conduct research on various topics such as energy efficiency, renewable technology and super-computing.

Other universities such as Carnegie Mellon University, Santa Clara University and San Jose State University are also considering joining the partnership.

NASA recently signed an agreement with Cisco to develop a system to monitor carbon buildup around the world in near real time.