With appropriate fanfare, RIT officials, government representatives
and industry partners gathered March 3 for
the dedication of a three-story, 32,000-square-foot structure housing
the IT Collaboratory, an RIT-led research
collaboration with the University at Buffalo and Alfred University.
 |
| Taking part in the March 3 dedication were
(from left): Don Boyd, RIT vice president for research; RIT
Board of Trustees Chair Michael Morley ’69; State Assemblyman
Joseph Morelle; State Senator Jim Alesi; Russell Bessette,
executive director of NYSTAR; RIT President Albert Simone;
and John Kelly, senior vice president of technology and intellectual
property at IBM. |
Started in 2001 with a $14 million
grant from the New York State Office of
Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR), the IT Collaboratory
focuses on microsystems, photonics, remote sensing systems and
nanomaterials.
“The opening of the IT Collaboratory is further proof that
our efforts to transform the Finger Lakes region into a global
leader of high-tech research and development are working,” says
New York Governor George E. Pataki.
Research conducted by scientists and engineers within the IT
Collaboratory has already resulted in more than $26 million in
research grants, 27 invention disclosures, 18 patents issued
or pending, and creation of four start-up companies.
The IT Collaboratory Research Building is adjacent to the Center
for Mircoelectronic and Computer Engineering. The first two floors
include spaces for metrology, sensor development and the Lobozzo
Optics Laboratory. There is also dedicated space for nanolithography,
remote sensing systems and the RF-Analog-Mixed Signal Laboratory.
The third floor is equipped as an integrated microsystems laboratory
through a partnership with Analog Devices Inc.
“Today, RIT and its academic and industry partners have
achieved an important milestone to become an even greater center
for high-technology research,” said Russell W. Bessette,
M.D., executive director of NYSTAR and keynote speaker at the
dedication.
John Kelly, senior vice president of technology and intellectual
property at IBM, emphasized the role that resources such as the
IT Collaboratory can play in helping to retain the region’s
brainpower.
“Competition is not just from other parts of the U.S.,
it’s from all over the world,” Kelly stated. “To
compete, we need to collaborate. We need to build centers of
excellence and open our labs and our research as never before.
I see it happening right here at the IT Collaboratory.”
For more information, visit the Web at www.rit.edu/ITColl.
Paul Stella
