Carlos Santiago Named New Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
By Catherine Herman
President Karen Hitchcock has announced the appointment of Carlos E. Santiago as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. The appointment follows an extensive year-long national search, led by Dean Frank Thompson of the University’s Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy.

“I am absolutely delighted that Dr. Carlos Santiago has accepted this appointment,” said President Hitchcock. “His strong national reputation was made evident by the breadth and depth of an extremely competitive search process. Dr. Santiago will continue to be a valuable asset to the University, where he has served with distinction since 1988 as a teacher, a researcher and, more recently, as an administrator.”

Santiago most recently served as Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and professor of Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Economics. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Cornell University and master’s degrees in economics from Cor-nell and the University of Puerto Rico.

During his tenure at UAlbany, Santiago has twice served as chair of the Department of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. He is a labor economist with regional expertise in the Caribbean and Central America, with special emphasis on Puerto Rico. His research interests include labor market issues, problems of structural adjustment and debt, and labor migration to the United States.

“I am delighted to accept this appointment and am very grateful for the opportunity to continue working with Karen Hitchcock and the other members of the University administration,” said Santiago. “My tenure at UAlbany has marked a time of tremendous growth and change, but there has always been one constant: the exceptional faculty and staff. I feel very fortunate to be among such exceptional colleagues.”

Santiago is founding co-editor of the Latino Research Review and is a member of the U.S. Congressional Hispanic Caucus International Relations Advisory Group. He currently serves as president of the Puerto Rican Studies Association and has served in several leadership roles with the Latin American Studies Association. In 1996 Santiago was named one of the top 100 most influential Hispanic leaders in the U.S. by Hispanic Business, where he served as a member of the Board of Consulting Economists.

“Dr. Santiago has been a most effective leader in the campus academic community and I look forward with real pleasure and enthusiasm to continuing and strengthening our collaborative effort to advance the remarkable growth and progress of the University,” President Hitchcock added. “I can think of no one more committed to the values of this University, nor anyone better able to help us meet our high institutional aspirations.”

“After a year-long national search and an exceptionally rich pool of candidates, the University search committee was most pleased that Dr. Carlos Santiago, one of three exceptionally strong finalists, and someone who has already contributed so much to the intellectual life and vitality of the University, was selected by the president,” said Frank Thompson, chair of the search committee and dean of the Rockefeller College.

Carlos Santiago is the author of four books: The Puerto Rican Diaspora: Its History and Contributions (forthcoming); Island Paradox: Puerto Rico in the 1990s (with Francisco Rivera-Batiz, 1996); Puerto Ricans in the United States: A Changing Reality (with Francisco Rivera-Batiz, 1996); and Labor in the Puerto Rican Economy: Postwar Development and Stagnation (1992). He is co-editor of Recovery or Relapse in the Global Economy: Comparative Perspectives on Restructuring in Central America.

Santiago succeeds Judy Genshaft, who is now president of the University of South Florida in Tampa.

UAlbany Establishes New School of Nanosciences and Materials
By Mary Fiess
Building on its renowned expertise in microelectronics and advanced materials, the University at Albany is establishing a new School of Nanosciences and Materials to develop the knowledge base that prepares students for the high-tech challenges ahead in the emerging field of nanotechnology.

Pending necessary approvals, the school will offer cross-disciplinary doctoral and master’s degree programs that integrate the fundamental science principles of physics, chemistry, computer science and biology with the cross-cutting fields of nanosciences, nanotechnology, and advanced materials.

“Our School of Nanosciences and Materials is a key step in our strategy to build world-class academic and research programs that both create a highly-qualified pool of future scientists and researchers, and advance the high-tech industries so critical to the economic strength of our state and nation,” said University at Albany President Karen R. Hitchcock.

The new school will build on the instructional capabilities and cutting-edge infrastructure of the University’s Institute for Materials, which manages six interdisciplinary research centers in the fields of nanotechnology, nanoelectronics, and advanced materials.

“Institute Executive Director Alain Kaloyeros, who has built the institute into an internationally recognized center for high-tech research, has agreed to serve as founding dean of this new school and bring to life our vision for it,” said Hitchcock.

“By coupling the Institute’s resources and University programs in the sciences, this new school will become a one-of-a-kind intellectual powerhouse offering an unparalleled education,” said State University of New York Chancellor Robert L. King. “There is a great need for highly-skilled employees in rapidly growing high-tech fields and this new school will address the need for interdisciplinary programs in nanosciences and advanced materials.”

The Institute, based at the Center for Environmental Sciences and Technology Management (CESTM), boasts facilities valued at more than $100 million, including the only pilot prototyping facility at any university in the world for the current standard in computer chip design, the 200-millimeter, or 8-inch wafer. And the University will soon break ground for a new wing to CESTM that will house the academic world’s first 300-millimeter wafer prototyping and workforce training facility. The semiconductor industry is moving to the next, larger generation, 300-mm wafer platform for greater capacity and higher performance.

More than 100 U.S. and worldwide corporate partners use Institute facilities or work with Institute scientists to test approaches in advanced materials processing, and in January, Governor George Pataki proposed the creation of a Center for Excellence in Nanotechnology based at UAlbany to build on that success.

University graduate students who study and conduct research in the technologically sophisticated environment provided at the Institute have high-tech jobs lined up even before they graduate. Most of these graduate students currently earn their master’s or doctoral degrees in physics, although, at the same time, most have training that spans other disciplines.

Carlos E. Santiago, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, points out that, “To our knowledge, this new interdisciplinary school is the first of its kind in the country devoted to research, teaching, and service activities - including technology proto-typing and workforce development - specifically in the up- and-coming area of ‘nanotechnology.’ We are delighted that Dr. Kaloyeros will lead this effort as founding dean.”

The emerging world of nanotechnology requires expertise across a number of disciplines, and the new school will better reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the students’ education.

“Put simply, nanotechnology combines the basic principles of chemistry, physics, biology, and engineering to develop the knowledge for controlling and manipulating individual atoms to yield truly novel materials, devices, and systems with unique properties and performance. The resulting knowledge base transcends the more conventional core scientific fields, and is catalyzing the creation of new academic degrees and educational curricula,” said Kaloyeros.

“Through the new school, we will work closely with the University’s existing departments to establish highly synergistic partnerships that are greatly beneficial to our faculty and students,” he said.

The new school will offer master’s and doctoral programs in the following areas: thin film single and multilayered material structures; optoelectronic materials and architectures; nanosystems sciences and technologies; materials for nanotechnology; materials characterization, analysis, and metrology; and molecular materials and architectures.

Two committees of the University Senate are involved in the curriculum of the new school. David McCaffrey, chair of the University Senate, said, “The Educational Policy Council discussed the proposal for the new school in light of its consistency with the University’s academic mission, voted to support the proposal, and reported on its discussion to the full Senate. The Graduate Academic Council will review the proposed curriculum of the new school when it receives the proposal.”

Institute scientists James Castracane and Eric Lifshin are expected to be the school’s first senior faculty members, joining a cadre of UAlbany faculty currently involved in the Institute for Materials. Castracane currently serves as Institute director of technology and adjunct professor in the physics and biology departments. Lifshin recently joined UAlbany as director of electron imaging facilities and metrology after many years with the General Electric Co., where he headed a team of 75 scientists.

“Industry needs people who are multi-disciplinary, not narrowly focused,” noted Lifshin. “One of the big challenges at GE was finding people with the right skill mix and recruiting them - it’s more and more difficult to find these skills.” With the creation of the new school at UAlbany, he said, “We are putting our heads where the potential employer’s head is at.”

Beautify Our Campuses on May 3
By Mary Fiess
Spring Cleanup Day is set for May 3 and everyone is being urged to pitch in and help beautify our campuses for Commencement Weekend, May 19 and 20.

“We are seeking 500 volunteers for one full day to help make our campuses look their best ever for the weekend celebrations planned for Commence-ment 2001,” said Vice President for Finance and Business Paul Stec. “A late spring thaw has worsened the usual challenges of cleaning up our campuses after a long winter and the task at hand is one that cannot be met by the Grounds Department alone.”

Work is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a one-hour cookout lunch provided at noon for the volunteer cleanup team. All faculty, staff and students are being urged to volunteer, and if unable to offer a full day, volunteers are being asked to sign up for at least part of the day.

Volunteers may either send an e-mail to Sheryl DeCrosta at sdecrosta@uamail.albany.edu, or return to her sign-up forms that are being distributed via campus mail.

King Speaks
At the first meeting of SUNY Chief Advancement Officers from around the state, held at the Uni-versity April 10 -11, Chan-cellor Robert L. King em-phasized his commitment to the 64 individual campuses and their donors. King said he personally asked for, and received from, Gov. George Pataki assurance that private money raised by individual campuses will not be offset by reductions in state support, and that the money raised on campus will stay on campus.

King spoke during a Dialogue on SUNY Philanthropy, held at the new library on the first day of the event.

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