Virginia Tech is looking to turn a calamity into an opportunity to make college campuses and other public places safer -- with some help from political friends in Richmond and Washington.

Just over a year after experiencing the worst campus shooting in the nation's history, the university is lobbying for $1 million from the federal homeland-security budget to pay for research on ways to prevent violence on college campuses, in shopping malls and stadiums, and other public places.

Virginia Tech would lead the project, but Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia also would be involved in the proposed research.

The money would come from an earmark in the federal budget for the Department of Homeland Security, allowing Virginia Tech to bypass the normal competition for grants. Proponents say the project would help Virginia universities address a crucial problem, but others say Tech should compete for grants to pay for it.

The catalyst for the project is the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech by a deranged student who killed 32 fellow students and teachers and then himself on April 16, 2007.

"We're trying to take the terrible tragedy of 4/16 and help universities everywhere," said retired Maj. Gen. Bruce M. Lawlor, a former federal homeland-security official who is leading Tech's new Center for Technology, Security, and Policy in Alexandria.

Virginia Tech is looking for help from the state's 13-member congressional delegation to find the money through an earmark in the federal budget. None has agreed publicly to sponsor the proposal, which is backed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.

"The attack on the Virginia Tech campus has had a deep impact on the commonwealth . . . We are concerned by the growing trend of random attacks in public locations," explained Alfonso H. Lopez, director of the Virginia Liaison Office, in a letter to Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., in late March.

The liaison office, based in Washington, is the Kaine administration's principal path to reach lawmakers in Congress for their support of state budget and legislative priorities. The response is hard to gauge because most members of the Virginia delegation won't talk publicly about earmarks they sponsor.

Webb, for example, won't discuss the Virginia Tech proposal, except to note his support for more than $400,000 in appropriations to the university last year to help in the recovery from the campus massacre. "Senator Webb looks forward to continuing to work with Virginia Tech on further funding needs," spokeswoman Jessica Smith said.

Virginia officials say the university has little choice but to seek funding directly from the budget because colleges and universities aren't eligible for direct homeland-security grants. The state used about $3.4 million in federal grants to improve security at colleges and universities in 2004 and 2005, but that was a one-time initiative that officials say is no longer allowed under changed federal rules for distributing the money.

"That project is not going to be eligible," said Cheryl J. Adkins, who administers the homeland-security grant program for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management.

As a result, state officials say Virginia Tech is asking for $1 million directly from the homeland-security budget's provisions for continuous training, even though the request originated from higher education.

It might not be easy to get. The government has tended to guard the homeland-security budget more closely than other areas, forcing potential projects to go through the competitive grant process, according to George W. Foresman, a former homeland-security adviser in Virginia and undersecretary for preparedness in Washington.

If Virginia Tech receives the grant, Foresman said, "It means that $1 million worth of something else at [Homeland Security] is not going to get done.

"That's not necessarily bad or good. It just is."

Contact Michael Martz at (804) 649-6964 or mmartz@timesdispatch.com.