$250,000 boost to nanotechnology education
- KeyBank offers grant to UAlbany program to help
people in the community understand technology
ALBANY -- KeyBank N.A. is giving $250,000 to
the University at Albany's College of Nanoscale
Science and Engineering to launch a new community
education program.
Called NEXSTEP, it will educate high school
students and people in the community about nanotechnology,
which is the driving force behind efforts to
make computer chips and other technologies smaller
and more powerful.
NEXSTEP stands for Nanotechnology Explorations
for Science, Training and Education Promotion.
Economic development officials have been stressing
the need to educate and train students and workers
to staff what they believe will be a steady
flow of nanotechnology companies to the region,
including Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
In June, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD said it
plans to build a $3.2 billion computer chip
factory in Malta. The "chip fab,"
as it is called, would employ 1,200 people and
create thousands of additional construction
and high-tech jobs.
"We all need to understand it better,"
said Michael Orsino, president of KeyBank's
Capital Region operations. "We all have
a responsibility to get the word out."
The money, which will come from both KeyBank
and its Key Foundation, will be given to the
college over a five-year period.
KeyBank, a unit of Cleveland, Ohio-based KeyCorp,
is the second-largest bank in the Capital Region
with 40 branches and $3.5 billion in local deposits.
It has financed construction projects at Albany
NanoTech, and also wants to participate in the
region's nanotechnology future, which includes
AMD's chip fab.
"We would love to be a part of that project
up in Saratoga County," Orsino said.
Orsino was introduced at a Tuesday morning
news conference by Alain Kaloyeros, chief administrative
officer of the college. For years, Kaloyeros
has been organizing educational tours and seminars
at the college for local students and teachers.
Last month, the college announced plans to
train semiconductor manufacturing students from
Hudson Valley Community College in its labs
and clean-room facilities.
Kaloyeros said the KeyBank program will help
educate a nanotech-savvy work force that will
"attract additional global technology companies
to the region."
NEXSTEP will be run by the college's economics
department, also known as its NanoEconomics
Constellation.
