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“I would anticipate that by the middle or end of this year
the lab will be a hub of activity. There should be all kinds of
scientists and engineers from higher education and industry working
side by side. “
Sandeep Tonapi, advanced process engineering manager at GE, another
of the center’s partnering industries, agrees with Sammakia’s
assessment.
“We expect the COE to significantly add to the physical and intellectual infrastructure at Binghamton, which in turn will enable a broad spectrum of industrial partnerships,“ Tonapi said. “This will be at the heart of New York state growth in high technology and emerging technology areas.“
First-rate facilities and equipment and a critical mass of researchers all combine to position the COE to begin changing the face of the electronics industry within the next decade. And closer to home, the existence of such resources promises to enhance the vitality of the regional economy by positioning companies to be more competitive in a keenly contested international marketplace.
“Without these things you really can’t get anywhere in today’s technology, especially in small-scale systems,“ Sammakia said. “You really need very difficult analysis done to understand why things are working or not working and how to correct or optimize the design.
“When you think about what we’re building, it will really enable the existence of small and mid-sized companies in this region, companies that are unable to afford this type of infrastructure and would otherwise either run into trouble or have to relocate or go and do all their work out of the region.“
The COE laboratory was established under a business model so that its operations would be to a large degree self-supporting. All the costs in the lab will be driven and covered by the research conducted there, and industries and sponsored researchers will pay set fees for access to the lab. Primarily, the lab affords University and industry researchers unprecedented access to analytical equipment, including two transmission electron microscopes that permit investigation and examination at near atomic-scale, down to a few nanometers.
“Binghamton was uniquely positioned with a foundation upon which something like this could be built,“ Sammakia said. “We had a lot of it, and we were missing some additional, very expensive and very difficult tools to get. By getting them, we’re really completing our analytical capability.“
The impact of the COE is already being felt as it brings together companies that were previously affiliated only with the IEEC or the CAMM. These new business-to-business relationships are likely to create the kind of dynamic energy that readily translates into local prosperity, Sammakia said.
“And we”re absolutely hoping that because of the COE, we”ll establish the kind of relationships that result in our local companies suddenly getting national attention,“ he added.
Cynthia Giroux, technology director in thin films and surfaces research at Corning, said establishing the Center of Excellence at Binghamton will add to the prestige of the University, attracting even higher-quality students and faculty. “Competitive edge in industry is built upon a good college and/or graduate education,“ Giroux said. “Without a solid foundation in fundamental physical and chemical principles, it”s just impossible to win any technology race.“ Recruiting faculty to the COE research team is critical to the center”s success, Sammakia agreed. Some of that can and will be done among existing faculty, he said.
“People like faculty in materials science, sensors, engineering, and computer science, all of those are a natural fit,“ he said. “And if we really think carefully, we should be able to find ties to people in psychology, and even ties to people in art and history. If you think, for instance, about work on abating terrorism, it”s not just about hardwired sensors. There are all sorts of psychological, historical and cultural considerations to factor into that kind of project.“
Especially in regard to external faculty recruitment efforts, the COE improves the odds that Binghamton will attract top-notch candidates, Sammakia said.
“This puts us in a position that, when we are hiring faculty, they look at us and say, ”This University has the same kind of equipment that I would get access to in a major university like Stanford or Cornell,”“ Sammakia said. “And so we”re already able to attract very talented world-class faculty who are joining us because they know they’ll not only have access to these tools, but actually more ready access, because on a campus of our size, they”ll experience less competition for lab time.“
Ultimately, the most likely effects of the COE will be accelerating the move of technology from the lab to the marketplace and then also supporting technology in the marketplace in a way that makes it more commercially viable.
“It“s wonderful to ship things quickly,“ Sammakia said, “but when they fail, you can“t get around the fact that you have to understand why, and that understanding will be enabled by the ITC lab. “People who have ideas and want to build prototypes can come and build them. And, if they want to understand and analyze them, people who have prototypes or products, no matter where they“re building them, can come to us.“
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