Governor, IBM Announce $150 Million for University at Albany Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics
Governor George E. Pataki was joined April 23 by Dr. John E. Kelly III, Senior Vice President and Group Executive, IBM Technology Group, in announcing more than $150 million in public and private sector support for a Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics at the University at Albany, a key component of the Governor’s $1 billion high-technology, biotechnology initiative.

The announcement represents one of the largest investments of its kind in State history, with IBM pledging more than $100 million to support the Center, and the State pledging up to $50 million to match the industry effort. The announcement was made at the Center for Environmental Sciences and Technology Management (CESTM) at UAlbany.

“The fact that IBM, one of the world’s leading high technology companies, has chosen to make this major investment in Upstate New York makes clear that our Centers of Excellence initiative is going to produce tremendous benefits for the Empire State,” Governor Pataki said. “The work performed at the University at Albany in partnership with IBM and other academic and industry leaders will lead to the development of cutting-edge technologies and innovative new products, while also fostering new job creation for the people of Upstate and all across New York.”

Dr. Kelly said, “This investment is a strong testimony to the great value IBM places on its collaborative relationship with the State of New York and the University at Albany. The creation of the Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics at Albany is a great example of how Governor Pataki is providing the model for government, industry, and academia to work together to enhance the business climate and bring new opportunities to the entire State. As a longstanding member of the New York business community, we believe IBM’s contribution to the University at Albany’s 300mm wafer semiconductor research facility will bring dividends to all involved for many years to come.”

Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno said, “The University at Albany’s CESTM facility has been a focus for high-tech computer and electronic research and it is truly deserving of this recognition and investment. The technological revolution for the next generation is beginning right here. I applaud the Governor and IBM for their commitment and leadership, not only for supporting this project, but for supporting high technology research and development throughout New York.”

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said, “Stimulating economic development through university-industry partnerships has long been an Assembly priority, and these initiatives are the cornerstone of our Jobs Agenda 2001. Today’s announcement at SUNY Albany is particularly gratifying, because it was the Assembly, with the leadership of Assemblymen Ron Canestrari, Jack McEneny and Paul Tonko of our Capital Region delegation, that made the first State commitment to establish a National Focus Center in Interconnects here in the Capital Region.”

The Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics at Albany will leverage the significant industry and State support announced April 23 to draw down millions in federal and other funds, for a more than $200 million total project value over the next five years.

The Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics at Albany will create the only university-based 300-millimeter computer wafer pilot prototyping facility in the world. It will provide critical laboratory and clean room space for research, build incubator space for high-tech company spin-offs, and create a state-of-the-art workforce development program at UAlbany and associated community colleges to provide the skilled labor critical to attracting high-tech companies to New York State.

The research, economic development and workforce training that will be undertaken at the Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics at Albany are especially critical in light of IBM’s recent announcement of a $2.5 billion chip fabrication facility in East Fishkill, New York. This Center and its associated programs will provide the industry with the academic research infrastructure and the skilled workforce required for NYS’s high technology industry.

The Albany Center of Excellence will develop innovations such as “systems on a chip” that will replace damaged nerves for spinal cord injuries, sequence DNA, or type and analyze blood samples.

Empire State Development Chairman Charles A. Gargano said, “With the establishment of a Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics at Albany, New York has the opportunity to become a national leader in nanoelectronics R&D and job growth. Thanks to the Governor’s vision and foresight, the Center of Excellence initiative will ensure that New York plays a leadership role in the global, high-tech economy of the 21st century.”

State University of New York Chancellor Robert King said, “This substantial investment by IBM, Governor Pataki and the State of New York in one of SUNY’s leading academic research institutions is further proof of the transformation that SUNY has enjoyed under the leadership of the Governor, Chairman Egan and our Board of Trustees. We at SUNY are poised to be full and active partners with the State and private sector industry in making New York a leader in high-technology academic research and economic development.”

University at Albany President Karen R. Hitchcock said, “We are delighted with the Governor’s announcement of the Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics at the University at Albany, State University of New York. The creation of the 300mm wafer research and development facility will provide our faculty, students, and university and industry partners with a unique and enabling array of educational, training, and research opportunities. We are extremely grateful to the State and IBM for their unprecedented investment in our high-technology programs. Our partnership with IBM is reaping significant technical and economic benefits for the University at Albany, the region, and the State. These benefits would not have been possible without the proactive leadership and key investments that Governor Pataki, Majority Leader Bruno and Speaker Silver continue to provide in support of universities and high-technology industry in New York.”

“The governor’s creation of the Center of Excellence will guarantee a tenfold expansion in the research, development, prototyping, and work force training programs between IBM and UAlbany,” said Alain Kaloyeros, executive director of the Institute for Materials. “In addition, it’s also about building the infrastructure for a good economy for the region and the State.”

The announcement is a direct result of the Governor’s call in the 2001 State of the State address to establish the Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics in Albany. This partnership will serve as a model for other State investments in emerging technology job development, including additional Centers of Excellence currently under development in Buffalo, Long Island, and New York City. In January, a Center of Excellence in Photonics and Optoelectronics was also announced in Rochester, in a collaborative partnership among the State, Kodak, Corning, Xerox, other business leaders, the University of Rochester, RIT and other academic partners. Total private sector pledges of support to the Center at Rochester will total $75 million.

The Governor’s Centers of Excellence plan anticipates leveraging $3 of industry, federal, university and other funds for every $1 of State investment. In total, the $283 million State investment in Centers of Excellence should generate at least $700 million in industry, federal, university and other support over the next five years.

The Governor’s Centers of Excellence plan will provide a critical job-creating bridge between the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research’s (NYSTAR) long-term research programs, such as the Strategically Targeted Academic Research (STAR) Centers, and the business community.

The electronics industry is the largest employer in the U.S., providing more than three million jobs in 2000, a number which equals the employment of the steel, automobile, and aerospace industries combined. For the past decade, electronics has been one of the fastest growing technology industries in the United States, with revenues projected to exceed $1.3 trillion by 2004.

The electronics industry is a major employer in New York, providing almost 100,000 jobs to its residents at 1,100 establishments in 1998. Total payroll exceeded $3 billion the same year, providing strength to the economy and high- wage jobs to New Yorkers.

The State has already committed nearly $70 million toward micro- and nanoelectronics at UAlbany. This announcement builds upon these investments and enhances the statewide efforts New York has made throughout the spectrum of basic and applied research, technology transfer, and prototyping and commercialization of new products.

“Our new Center for Excellence in Nanoelectronics is a testament to the vital importance of the University’s corporate, governmental, and academic partnerships that are advancing cutting-edge research and driving economic growth. We are deeply grateful to IBM and to our State’s leaders for investing in our research, and to all who have demonstrated support throughout the years,” President Hitchcock said after the event.

Editor’s Note: Most of the information in the above story was taken from a press release from the Governor’s press office.

UAlbany Foundation Names Citizen Laureate Honorees
By Vinny Reda
New York State Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno and David O. Carpenter M.D., the founding dean of UAlbany’s School of Public Health, have been named recipients of the 2001 University at Albany Foundation Citizen Laureate Awards.

The Citizen Laureate Awards recognize individuals for significant contributions to the academic world and the community. Bruno will receive the Community Laureate Award while Carpenter will receive the Academic Laureate Award.

They will be honored at a black-tie dinner on Wedneday, May 9, at 6 p.m. in the new library building on the Uptown Campus. The event is a fund-raiser for The University at Albany Foundation. For ticket information, call (518) 442-5310. Bruno was first elected to the State Senate in 1976. The Republican from the 43rd District was elected Majority Leader in January 1995, and re-elected to that position in 1997, 1999, and 2001. As a legislative priority, he has highlighted the State’s economy and has concentrated his efforts on programs to stimulate the creation of jobs, aid the growth of business and commerce, and reduce personal taxes.

During Bruno’s six years as Majority Leader, New York has created almost 800,000 new private sector jobs. His efforts to aid his home district along with the state have done much to revitalize the region’s economy.

Bruno obtained $2 million to renovate the Rice Building in Troy as an incubator for high-tech business; provided critical support for UAlbany’s new library; and, with Gov. George Pataki and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, forged the state’s $45 million commitment to develop the Center for Environmental Sciences and Technology Management (CESTM) at UAlbany.

Bruno’s Jobs 2000 (J2K) initiative is focused on strengthening relationships between research universities and the private sector to foster high-tech business development in New York. In 1996, a $5 million state grant from Bruno was critical for the purchase and renovation of what is now the East Campus. Bruno obtained an additional $5 million to start up the Center for Comparative Functional Genomics at the East Campus. All told, the East Campus has brought more than 600 jobs to the Capital Region.

In 1999, with Pataki and Silver, Bruno was instrumental in New York’s commitment to fund the Focus Center-NY (FC-NY). FC-NY also represents an important step in New York’s bid to attract semiconductor industries.

David O. Carpenter, founding dean of the School of Public Health, led the school with distinction from its beginning in 1985 to his retirement from that post in 1998. During that time, the school grew in size - more than 350 students - complexity, and stature, yet Carpenter continued to maintain a national research profile in neurobiology and neurotoxicology. Today, he is a professor in the school’s departments of Environmental Health & Toxicology and Biomedical Sciences.

In addition to his research on animal models of stroke and neurodegenerative diseases and neurotoxic agents, Carpenter devotes time to national and international activities in environmental health, serving on the National Advisory Committee of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and on the Great Lakes Science Advisory Board of the International Joint Commission. He coordinates many of the activities of NIEHS in Eastern and Central Europe.

In 1990, under Carpenter’s direction, an NIEHS research program was launched to determine the health and environmental impacts resulting from high PCB concentrations. His research found that the breast milk of Akwesasne Mohawk women contained elevated concentrations of PCBs, and these levels were linked directly to consumption of local fish and wildlife. By 1994, breast milk concentrations of PCBs declined to control group levels mainly because Mohawk women reduced or eliminated locally caught fish and wildlife from their diets.

Medallion of the University for Foxman
Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) since 1987 and one of the most important Jewish leaders on the American scene today, will be awarded the Medallion of the University during an event on Monday, June 18, from 6 to 9 p.m. at The Riverview in Hastings-on-Hudson.

The Medallion of the University is the highest award for distinguished service that the University at Albany bestows. Honorees must demonstrate profound commitment to the most fundamental values of American society and excellence at every level of education. In word and deed, recipients, who have included Daniel Patrick Moynihan and state Sen. Joseph Bruno, have shown they appreciate the symbiotic relationships among academic quality, economic vitality, and cultural richness.

The event, hosted by President Karen R. Hitchcock and the Jewish Studies Advisory Board, will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Judaic Studies Department and publicly an-nounce the Center for Jewish Studies. Alan P. Goldberg, a member of the board and head of First Albany Corp., will join the president as co-host. Bernard Arbit, a member of the Jewish Studies Advisory Board and a Kappa Beta fraternity brother, is sponsoring the event.

Foxman will be the guest of honor. World renowned as a leader in the fight against anti-Semitism, bigotry, and discrimination, he regularly confers with elected officials and community leaders in the United States and abroad on problems of ethnic hatred, violence, and terrorism. He is a passionate supporter of the State of Israel and a voice for peace in the Middle East.

The University at Albany is establishing a Center for Jewish Studies that will serve as a hub of Jewish studies for the State University of New York and the Northeast. To date, the Jewish Studies Advisory Board has raised $500,000 in pledges and gifts toward the goal of endowing the center.

Those invited to the event include directors of The University at Albany Foundation, State University of New York officers and trustees, members of the Jewish Studies Advisory Board, business and community leaders from the Capital Region and New York City, leaders of New York’s Jewish community, alumni, and students.

Foxman is at the forefront of major issues of the day, including the dialogue between African-Americans and Jews, the fight against terrorism here and abroad, church and state issues, religious intolerance, and Holocaust restitution issues. He consistently speaks out against hatred and violence wherever they occur - Jasper, Texas; Oklahoma City; Kosovo; or the Middle East.

He appears frequently on national news programs on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, PBS, and NPR, and is quoted often in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Time, and Newsweek, among other media. His op-ed pieces have appeared in newspapers across the country, most recently in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Foxman regularly confers with elected officials and community leaders here and abroad. He has had consultations in Europe, Russia, Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, China, South Africa, and Argentina, and with Palestinian leaders, on problems of ethnic hatred, violence, and terrorism, and he has had three audiences with Pope John Paul II.

A Holocaust survivor, he is a member of the President’s United States Holocaust Memorial Council, appointed by Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton, and is a vice president of the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors. He was a member of the official Presidential delegations to Kiev for the 50th anniversary of the Babi Yar massacre, to Warsaw for the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and to Jerusalem for the funeral of assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Born in Poland in 1940, Foxman was saved from the Holocaust as an infant by his Polish Catholic nursemaid, who baptized and raised him as a Catholic during the war years. His parents survived the war, but 14 members of his family were lost. He arrived in America in 1950 with his parents after a lengthy custody battle with the former nursemaid.

A graduate of the yeshiva of Flatbush, Brooklyn, N.Y., Foxman has a B.A. in political science from the City College of the City University of New York, where he graduated with honors in history. He earned a J.D. degree from New York University of Law, and did graduate work in advanced Judaic studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and in international economics at The New School for Social Research.

Albany Valve & Fitting Co. Creates New Fellowship for Students in the Nanosciences
By Greta Petry
G. Thomas Selfridge, the owner of the Schenectady-based Albany Valve & Fitting Co. since 1973, has created a new fellowship for UAlbany graduate students in nanosciences and materials.

Each semester for the next three years, one student will be awarded the Albany Valve & Fitting Co. Graduate Fellowship. Studying under the direction of Alain Kaloyeros, executive director of the UAlbany Institute for Materials and founding dean of the new School of Nanosciences and Materials, students are trained on the latest equipment in microelectronics and nanotechnology.

“My own perspective, as a private businessperson, is that I feel we should strongly support young people and instill strong initiatives in them towards the private sector. Dr. Kaloyeros’s program involves both government and business. This is a great opportunity for us to help that along,” Selfridge said.

Selfridge said more needs to be done to develop a pro-business stance in the Capital Region and in New York State, to help new businesses start up at business incubators such as UAlbany’s, in order to “provide places where the young people we educate in the Capital Region will have a place to work. I have six grown children and five of them work outside the State, because that is where the jobs are. We bring 25,000 students to the Capital Region every year. We need to keep them here after graduation.”

Selfridge said his firm has been involved with Kaloyeros ever since the physics professor first came to campus. Kaloyeros said, “On behalf of the UAlbany Institute for Materials, we are delighted to be honored with such critical support by one of the most active and productive technology and business leaders in the region and State, not to mention a dynamic champion of the University at Albany and avid supporter of its materials programs.

“The University and UAIM owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Mr. Selfridge for his continued dedication to the advancement of our high-tech infrastructure and economic well being. This fellowship provides us with an excellent opportunity to recruit and retain highly qualified students for careers in nanoscience and materials.” Selfridge said he is interested in doing “whatever we can do to make Albany a more attractive place for bright young people to come, and partner with this program.” While declining to discuss the amount of the fellowship, Selfridge said he has made a three-year commitment to the University. “It’s more the support than the dollars,” he said.

Albany Valve & Fitting is involved with process control and instrumentation, making the components that are designed for fluid system applications.

“When you build computers and need chips, there are lots of specialty gases used. In the microchip thin film technology area, how those are applied is very important. If you look at a tool that manufactures chips - thousands of our valves and fittings on that tool control each layer of gas that is required to manufacture the chips,” Selfridge said.

UAlbany Joins Prestigious Group of Research Centers
By Carol Olechowski
UAlbany’s Center for Neuroscience Research has joined an elite group of research centers nationwide, thanks to a three-year, $242,200 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

As one of six Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Training Sites in neuroscience - the others are located at Duke; the universities of Illinois, Massachusetts, and Kentucky; and Brigham Young - the center will institute a 10-week summer program to prepare students for careers in that field, noted Associate Professor of Biology Gregory Lnenicka. As a center associate, Lnenicka is one of 17 Biological Sciences, Psychology, Chemistry, and School of Public Health faculty members “promoting research in the various areas of neuroscience by facilitating the exchange of ideas and techniques” at the undergraduate, doctoral, and post-doctoral levels. He and his colleagues also “promote outside seminar speakers, intra-group presentations, and community outreach activities; and foster collaborations and initiatives for funding.”

In the latter capacity, Lnenicka worked with Cheryl Frye, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology, on the NSF grant application. The center, established in 1967 as the Neurobiology Research Center, initially focused on “the development and plasticity of the nervous system, with a particular emphasis on experience-dependent nervous system development.” The name change earlier this year - to the Center for Neuroscience Research - reflected the evolution of broader interests in neural development and regeneration, genetic and hormonal control of behavior, and synaptic function and plasticity. These interests, in turn, are applicable to the study of Alzheimer’s Disease, epilepsy, strabismus, amblyopia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Parkinson’s disease.

Eleven of the faculty associates representing the psychology and biological sciences departments will conduct the REU; additional neuroscience faculty may join them at a later date, according to Frye. She and Lnenicka anticipate that admittance to the program - which will be limited to 10 students each of the next three summers - will be “very competitive.” Lnenicka added, “To recruit some of the best students interested in neuroscience careers, we have established faculty contacts at all the colleges in the Capital Region and at many others in the Northeast, such as Williams, Amherst, Colgate, Vassar, and Wesleyan.” Each participant will receive free room and board, a stipend, a supply budget, and funding to cover expenses associated with attending a regional meeting on neuroscience.

Undergraduates participating in the program will also “gain in-depth training through participation in research,” stated Lnenicka. “They will learn the questions addressed by current neuroscience research, experimental design and techniques, research ethics, the presentation of scientific data, and career options. This program will provide a rich experience, not found in the usual undergraduate curriculum, for the aspiring neuroscientist. It should be a springboard for those interested in pursuing a career in biomedical research.”

In addition, the program “will increase the visibility of neuroscience at UAlbany both regionally and nationally, which should assist in the recruitment of outstanding students to our undergraduate and graduate schools,” observed Frye.

Vice President for Research Christopher F. D’Elia sees the grant as “an affirmation of the excellence of our undergraduate research programs.” He congratulated Frye and Lnenicka for their initiative and efforts in attracting NSF support: “These grant proposals are reviewed very stringently. One must demonstrate commitment to research not only by providing the programs and facilities necessary, but by showing how well one takes care of other aspects of students’ intellectual development - by providing professional training in scientific ethics, for example. Drs. Lnenicka and Frye exemplify the University’s dedication to undergraduate teaching and research.”

D’Elia, who served as principal investigator for an REU in estuarine science at the University of Maryland for 10 years, well understands the “dedication” involved in sustaining such an operation. He recalled: “There was a demanding recruitment and admissions process associated with it. We attracted 120 or more applicants from all over the nation for only 10 openings. Accordingly, we had to solicit and receive the applications, convene a review committee to select participants, make travel and local living arrangements for the successful applicants, and match the students with the best possible faculty mentors.”

The effort, D’Elia found, “really gets your institution’s name out there. A high percentage of the students who came to our REU Site later matriculated as graduate students at our institution or elsewhere. Many of them have gone on to complete their graduate studies at the Ph.D. level. This is a most rewarding program in every respect.”

Given that D’Elia’s division recently hosted an Undergraduate Research Initiatives colloquium that drew participation from NSF Senior Staff Associate Karolyn K. Eisenstein (who coordinates NSF’s REU efforts); Marist College School of Science Dean Michael Tannenbaum; and UAlbany panelists David Shub (Biological Sciences), Rabi Musah (Chemistry), and Warren Roberts (History), he is particularly pleased with the Center for Neuroscience Research honor. Undergraduate research, he pointed out, does not involve merely “producing the next generation of scientists. It also creates in students who decide not to go into scientific careers an appreciation for the scholarly value of research and its practical benefits.”

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