Albany Underwrites Economic Development Expansion of Nanotech Efforts West of Albany
Gannett, Sunday, August 18, 2013:
The ambition of Cuomo and Kaloyeros comes at a time when upstate New York continues to try to find its footing after decades of manufacturing decline. In June, 43,453 fewer people were employed in New York than in June 2008, and the number of unemployed grew 45 percent during the period, from 497,663 to 720,917.
“The nanotech and semiconducter industry are already important here, and will continue to have increasing importance in this region,” said Mark Peterson, president and CEO of Greater Rochester Enterprise.
“The greater Rochester region continues to transition from a community once dependent upon a few large companies to one that is more diversified and entrepreneurial,” said Ryne Raffaelle, vice president for research and associate provost at the Rochester Institute of Technology, which has been growing its nanotechnology programs in recent years.
All this at the end of a ten year period when the State Regents eliminated optics and photonics from the New York State Regents Physics curriculum.