Albany Meets the
Kresge Challenge

Thanks to the Campaign for the Libraries, the University Libraries will be equipped as state-of-the-art interchanges along the Information Superhighway.

Launched in April 1998, the campaign concluded successfully last December, exceeding its $3.5 million goal by more than $300,000. A Kresge challenge grant accounted for $500,000 of that amount. Barnes & Noble College Bookstores pledged an additional $500,000. More than 6,500 donors—including alumni, parents, University at Albany Foundation and University Council members, the UAlbany Benevolent Association, faculty, staff, corporations and foundations—joined forces to help lift the campaign over the top.

New York State Teachers Retirement System CEO George Philip, B.A.’69, M.A.’73, and Simmons Machine Tool Corp. CEO Hans J. Naumann co-chaired the drive. Campaign funds will support the latest in computing and telecommunications technologies, as well as renovations to the Main Library and the Thomas E. Dewey Graduate Library.

University at Albany Vice President for Advancement Robert R. Ashton said the library project is another in a series of private-public partnerships the University has pursued. “When you stop to think that only about 20 percent of UAlbany’s operating budget comes from tax dollars—compared with 80 percent a dozen years ago—you can see why private support is so necessary to provide the margin of excellence for the University,” he said.

Provost Genshaft Named President of USF

Judy Genshaft, the University at Albany’s provost and vice president for academic affairs, will become president of the University of South Florida in Tampa Bay, Florida, on July 1. USF is the largest metropolitan university in the southeastern United States, with 35,000 students on four campuses. Genshaft came to Albany in 1992 as dean of the School of Education.

Carlos Santiago is filling Genshaft’s position on an interim basis while the University carries out a nationwide search. Santiago, a profes-sor of Latin American and Caribbean studies, had recently completed a term as associate provost and dean of graduate studies.

State to Fund New Wing at CESTM for a
New Generation of Computer Chips

The University’s Center for Environmental Sciences and Technology Management (CESTM) is in line for $28 million in state funding to attract additional high-tech investments. The funding will be used as part of an initiative to create a new wing at CESTM for the work of the Center for Advanced Thin Film Technology (CAT), which is recognized nationally as a leading resource for the semiconductor industry.

The initiative, which was announced jointly by Governor George Pataki and legislative leaders in February, will create a state-of-the-art facility for developing prototypes for the next generation of computer chips on the 300mm, or 12-inch, wafer platform. It will also create more incubator space for high-tech businesses.

The promised funding will support a $55 million pilot prototyping center that builds upon the semiconductor research already being done at the CAT. Right now, the CAT has a pilot prototyping facility for the current industry standard in computer chip design, the 200mm, or 8-inch, wafer. The facility is critical to the research efforts of dozens of companies, big and small, and it offers students state-of-the-art training opportunities.

“Our goal,” says CAT Director Alain Kaloyeros, “is to become a ‘one-stop-shop’ where anyone anywhere in the world can come to tap our expertise in microelectronics-based information technologies. At the same time, we want to create world-class academic programs that support and enhance the university’s mission within its overarching goal of societal responsibility and distinctive competitiveness.”

The CAT, founded in 1993, now has facilities valued at over $75 million, with over 100 U.S. and worldwide corporate partners. Its interdisciplinary research team includes physicists, chemists, materials scientists, biologists and computer scientists with broad expertise in microelectronics, nanosystems, optoelectronics, bioelectronics, and telecommunications.

The CAT was key to the University’s designation in 1998 as the headquarters of Focus Center-New York for Gigascale Interconnects. This $45-million initiative is funded by the semiconductor industry and the state and federal governments to develop the science and technology for interconnects in the next generation of computer chips.

In a related development, Governor Pataki, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Assembly Majority Leader Sheldon Silver announced in March that IBM has awarded UAlbany and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute $10 million in advanced 200mm wafer photolithography tools to support joint research efforts under the national Interconnect Focus Center program.

 

University Breaks Ground for Sculpture Studio

The University broke ground this spring for a 20,000-square-foot sculpture studio on the eastern edge of campus. The $4.1 million facility, which is part of the University’s $120 million master plan, is scheduled to be in use by the fall of 2002. The studio will house all sculpture and three-dimensional activity for the Art Department on a single level.

The University expects to begin construction this fall of a life sciences building on the east end of the academic podium. The projected completion date for that $66 million project is 2004, followed by construction of a new entrance building on the south side of Collins Circle. In other master plan developments, the University Police Department was scheduled to move into its new building, also on the east side of campus, late this spring.

The New York State Legislature approved funding for the five-year master plan in the spring of 1998 after the University completed a study of the steps it must take to strengthen its position as one of the nation’s top public research universities.