LONG ISLAND: A NATIONAL HOT SPOT FOR THE CONVERGENCE OF TECHNOLOGIES
Stony Brook University Constructs
Advanced Energy Research
and Technology Center (AERTC)

STORY BY MAUREEN TRAXLER
COVER PHOTO BY MIRANDA GATEWOOD

In 2006, co-chairs of the Advisory Board of AERTC, Robert Catell, Chairman, National Grid U.S., and Dr. Shirley Strum Kenny, President, Stony Brook University joined Dr. Yacov Shamash, Vice President for Economic Development and State Senators Kenneth LaValle and Dean Skelos to announce the opening of the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center (AERTC) at Stony Brook. The building is expected to be completed by spring/summer 2010.

The Center's goals are bold: to reduce dependence on foreign oil imports, ensure that the country is able to meet the increasing demand for energy in an environmentally sound manner, and develop a focus on renewable energy and nanotechnology applications for novel sources of energy. The Long Island Senate delegation secured a $35-million allocation in the 2006 state capital budget for the construction of the Center's building.

"The fact that the money was for advanced energy research is what made it compelling,"remarks Kenny. "The timing was impeccable. This is an enormously important issue." Shamash points out that a year-and-a-half ago oil was selling at $70-a-barrel. Last month when he spoke with Networking® Magazine, oil had jumped to over $110-a-barrel.

The Energy Research Center building, designed by Flad Architects, a leading architecture and engineering firm working with higher education, healthcare and science and technology clients, will conform to the highest level of energy sustainability administered by the U.S. Green Building Council, and will seek a Platinum LEED® rating, the highest designation. Shamash says the building will have " a state-of-the-art energy footprint" using recycled construction materials, having a slanted roof to collect rain water to reuse in the plumbing system, and HVAC systems meeting efficiency standards. By nature of the Center's work, Kenny notes, "The AERTC building has to exemplify good energy use." She adds that they are vying with the Bank of America building near Bryant Park, New York City, to be the first Platinum-rated building in New York State. (See Networking's Going Green section, October 2007) Only about 25 buildings in the country are LEED® Platinum-rated at present.

"This is just the beginning," adds National Grid's Catell, who co-chairs AERTC's Advisory Board with Kenny. Catell brings to the Center his longtime service in the energy industry and ability to motivate others. He collaborated with Stony Brook in order "to address the energy situation, be a catalyst to development of new technologies and bring jobs in the area of energy to Long Island." He notes that the center has looked to the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at State University at Albany, the first college of its kind in the world, as a model. Nanotechnology applications have potential in healthcare, information technology and energy storage.

Like the Albany nano center, Catell notes that AERTC has "reached out to colleges and universities on Long Island and the region, is expanding to the state and country, and perhaps eventually around the world." Its Advisory Board already includes the presidents of Farmingdale State College, Brooklyn Polytechnic University, City College, Cooper Union, and members from Adelphi, Dowling, Hofstra, NYIT, Long Island University, Nassau Community College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Suffolk County Community College, SUNY Maritime College and Yeshiva University.

AERTC is also partnering with Brookhaven National Labs, a federal Department of Energy facility, with LIPA, Nassau and Suffolk County governments, and with Northrop Grumman, CA and other companies with great interest in energy.

Shamash serves as co-vice chair of the Advisory Board and sees his role as facilitator, bringing together the different entities. "We already have some joint projects as a result of networking at the Energy Center. I'm very excited about the Center because this can not only make a difference to Long Island and the region, but also make a difference to us as human beings living on this planet in terms of global warming and other problems."

Catell says that AERTC leadership has begun a national search for a Director-a person who possesses widespread recognition as a leader in the energy research field and knows how to collaborate with government entities for funding. The Center will be looking for alternative energies, he adds, "from production, like biofuels, solar and wind, to transfer, like superconductivity and transmission lines, right down to use in the home, like energy efficient appliances. It's going to focus on the entire energy chain." In addition, the Center looks to maximize the efficiency of conventional sources and accelerate the affordable commercialization of alternative sources.

Research Park

The Center for Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology (CEWIT), established in 2002, and the Advanced Energy Center will be the anchor buildings in Stony Brook's Research Park. Shamash explains that because Long Island's workforce is made up of a large number of software companies, Stony Brook was a good fit for the wireless and information technology center which has spawned a few new companies and filed several patents as a result of its work.

"Having the facilities side by side in the research park will create a lot of synergy between the two centers," remarks Shamash. "It's an example of the convergence of software and wireless, together with the energy field."

"AERTC has started working with a number of local companies and Brookhaven National Laboratory which gives us the ability to address problems we were not able to address individually," adds Shamash. "This is a distinguishing feature for Long Island." Researchers from Brookhaven Labs, Northrup Grumman and Farmingdale College are working on joint proposals to receive federal grant funding.

Through the newly proposed alliances between Stony Brook University, Brookhaven National Laboratory and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Kenny says, "We'll be doing research in cancer, genetics, neuroscience and bioinformatics. That's our starting agenda." [Bioinformatics involves the use of techniques including applied mathematics, statistics, computer science, artificial intelligence, chemistry and biochemistry to solve biological problems usually on the molecular level.] For example, she notes: "A Stony Brook researcher working at Cold Spring Harbor and using the imaging facilities at Brookhaven was able to create, for the first time ever, the image of a neural (brain) stem cell. That was because we took all the power of the three and put them together. As we bring new scientists to the Island, the fact that they will have the opportunity to work in that context is going to be a wonderful recruitment benefit."

National Grid partner project

Last August, National Grid embarked on its first project with the Energy Center, the development of a new generation sensor system for its gas distribution network. Catell explains that there are potential dangers to its energy transportation system when outside parties are excavating near the company's pipeline.

"The new sensor system will be buried next to the pipeline and will be able to detect excavating prior to impacting the pipeline and causing damage," notes Catell. "Solar energy will be used to power the sensor system. Hopefully, this will be the first of many projects. Like KeySpan, National Grid looks to partner with businesses in the community, promote economic development in the region, and do what we can to help the communities we serve."

"This is one example of how AERTC will be finding solutions to important energy issues, as well as transforming basic research into applied technologies," adds Shamash.

Building Partnerships

Stony Brook was designated as a Center for Advanced Technology in medical biotechnology in the early 1980s, beginning its research collaboration with local industry. In 1992 the University opened its Long Island High Technology Incubator (LIHTI), one of the cornerstones of the technology movement on Long Island. In its first decade, LIHTI spawned no fewer than 44 successful companies and generated more than $3-billion in the Long Island/New York State/national economy. Shortly after Shamash joined Stony Brook as dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, he led the effort by SUNY's engineering schools to create the highly successful statewide SPIR program (Strategic Partnership for Industrial Resurgence). [During the past ten years, working through the SPIR program, the College has partnered with more than 220 companies to assist them with more than 1,150 projects.]

Yet, with the appointment of Dr. Kenny as Stony Brook's fourth president in 1994 given her interest in research, the University believed it could do more. Shamash adds that Stony Brook went on to establish its software incubator helping software developers and manufacturers; its incubator at Calverton, focusing on nurturing new agriculture, aquaculture and environmental technologies; and its Center for Advanced Technology in the area of sensors in partnership with Long Island's electronics industry.

"Everything is multi-disciplinary, research and education as well," adds Kenny, citing the Energy and Wireless centers, as well as Stony Brook's hospital and medical school, its engineering school, and its health technology and management study programs, as contributing to the University's growing importance to healthcare solutions. "We are blessed at this University that we have such a wide variety of program and academic areas and, increasingly, they are working together."

"The whole area of healthcare is a major component of the Wireless and IT center, our biomedical and biotech centers and our sensor center," adds Shamash. "They're working on problems related to healthcare, how we can deliver healthcare more cheaply and safely, and as a result, many projects have been started. The fact that CEWIT and AERTC are physically located close to each other makes a huge difference. The alliances among Stony Brook and the Brookhaven and Cold Spring Harbor Labs that Shirley put together are going to be a huge shot in the arm for the region."

While university research and corporate R&D used to be two separate worlds, Shamash says, “More and more, companies are doing away with their research labs and depending on universities to do that work." He adds, "Stony Brook is ahead of the game because we have already worked with local companies, and the University is extremely rich in scientific instruments and scientific labs."

Benefits to the community and economy

When she came to the University, Kenny brought her philosophy that "To be a great national university, Stony Brook had to be a great local university." Certainly, she adds, "There has been an effort on the part of the University to be engaged and involved in the community and really add value, and we have done that primarily through economic development."Through her foresight, Stony Brook became the first campus in the country to have a Vice President for Economic Development with the appointment of Dr. Shamash to that post in 2000.

Kenny reports that a broad consensus exists that strong research universities are essential for states and nations to be competitive in the 21st century. Across disciplines, Stony Brook works with about 100-120 companies on between 200-250 projects annually. The University's activities are important to companies, too, because its experienced researchers, both on the undergraduate and graduate levels, could be potential new-hires.

In the College of Engineering alone, Shamash notes, that among its faculty and graduate students, there are about 1,000 professionals with degrees - comparable to Brookhaven Labs and Northrop Grumman. He adds, "Dr. Kenny feels strongly that Stony Brook should be leveraging that resource for the economic development of the region."

In addition, Shamash points to the growing interrelationship between the University's engineering and business schools. "We have graduate students from both schools helping companies in the incubators, doing their marketing plans. Companies like BAE Systems, Globecom and Invision rely on business majors to do some of their work," he says, adding that 80% of new tech companies fail not because of the technology, but because of their business practices.

"In my 15 years at Stony Brook, I don't think I have ever seen so much excitement going on at the University as we have now," comments Shamash. "The accomplishments of the University are just incredible and the accomplishments of faculty and students are incredibly rewarding and make you work harder." Kenny adds, "It's hard to get bored around here."

Stony Brook-AERTC, Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center Leadership

Advisory Board Co-chairs
Soon after her appointment at Stony Brook, Dr. Shirley Strum Kenny launched and chaired the Boyer Commission, which studied the education of undergraduates at research universities. She says the report "emphasized undergraduate research and that students in a research university have a right to partake of that research, as Stony Brook students do."The Commission's work has had a profound effect nationally and internationally, and Kenny has been asked to speak on this issue around the world. She holds bachelor's degrees in English and Journalism from the University of Texas, an M.A. from the University of Minnesota, and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, and has published five books and numerous articles in the field of Restoration and 18th century British drama. A resident of the Village of Old Field, Kenny is the first woman and first humanist to serve as President of Stony Brook.

A Garden City resident, Robert Catell received both his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the City College of New York and is a Registered Professional Engineer. He has attended Columbia University's Executive Development Program, and the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School. He began his career at Brooklyn Union Gas in 1958, became Chairman and CEO of the newly formed KeySpan after the merger of Brooklyn Union and the Long Island Lighting Company, and is currently Chairman of National Grid US and an Executive Director and Deputy Chairman of National Grid PLC. (PLC is a British public limited company.) He chairs National Grid's social policy committee, continuing the energy company's commitment to community. He co-authored The CEO and the Monk: One Company's Journey to Profit and Purpose, outlining how KeySpan weathered two mergers in two years by creating new corporate cultures that were sensitive to workers'needs.

Advisory Board Vice-chairs
Born in Iraq and schooled in Israel and England, Dr. Yacov Shamash received his undergraduate and graduate degrees, as well as his Ph.D. in Engineering at the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London. Before coming to Stony Brook in 1992, he served as Director of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Washington State University and was responsible for the establishment of a National Science Foundation Industry/University Center for the Design of Analog/Digital Integrated Circuits. The author of more than 130 publications, Shamash is a Fellow of the IEEE, the highest grade of membership in this 370,000-member organization of engineers, scientists and allied professionals with technical interests in electrical and computer sciences, engineering and related disciplines. To become a Fellow, Shamash was nominated by his peers and approved by the IEEE Board for distinction in the profession. IEEE is the organization that developed the 802.11 standards for wireless LAN computer communications in the 1990s. He serves on the Board of LISTnet and several science and technology companies.

Michael Faltischek, a senior partner of Ruskin Moscou and Faltischek, was a member of the Board of Directors of LIPA from 1995-2001 and chaired its Economic Development Committee. He founded and is chair of the Energy Industry Practice Group, which provides diverse legal services to the energy industry in its ongoing efforts to satisfy the energy needs of the regional marketplace. He current serves on the Board of Directors of the Long Island Association.