Rochester Business Alliance CEO Bob Duffy will lead one of the major committees overseeing AIM Photonics, the federal integrated photonics manufacturing institute that’s based in Rochester. SUNY Polytechnic Institute, one of the partners in the Department of Defense-backed institute, announced Duffy’s appointment as chair of the AIM Photonics Leadership Council today. The Council sets “the strategic […]
University of Rochester
Posted inNews & Opinion
Photonics: What? Why? How?
Rochester is undeniably excited about photonics, even if much of the community doesn’t know what it is. But there’s good reason for the buzz, since Rochester will be the heart of a national initiative to build an integrated photonics industry from the ground up. The Department of Defense is keen on integrated photonics, which basically […]
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Photonics HQ location settled
The first fight around a new national photonics institute is over, and it looks like everyone got a little bit of something. Rochester academic and political leaders were at odds with officials from SUNY Polytechnic Institute over where to put the institute’s headquarters. The local people wanted it at the Sibley Building, while SUNY Poly […]
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Pressure is on for UR to fix East
When the State Education Department released the results of the English language arts and math tests for grades 3-8 a couple of weeks ago, many of us looked for some sign that Superintendent Bolgen Vargas’s strategies – implementing universal prekindergarten, expanding learning time, and reducing summer learning loss — are working. But Rochester’s students showed […]
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Photonics institute partners vow to play nice
Sometimes, things have to get worse before they can get better. And for the week-long photonics institute skirmish that blew up yesterday, that cliché may hold true. University of Rochester President Joel Seligman says that he, Assembly Majority Leader Joe Morelle, SUNY Polytechnic Institute CEO Alain Kaloyeros, and an unnamed senior official with Governor Andrew […]
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The photonics fight: it’s about leadership, not buildings
SUNY Polytechnic should have known better than to pick a fight over the photonics institute. Companies and researchers in the Rochester region helped carve out the multi-disciplinary, high-tech field, and they’ve remained at the top of it. Local leaders have been fiercely protective of the industry, and they weren’t about to let someone from outside […]
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Seligman’s very big plan for the very big deal
The University of Rochester president has done what too many community leaders have failed to do over the years.
Posted inNews & Opinion
Feedback 7/29
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Biden coming for optics announcement
Vice President Joe Biden will visit the Rochester area on Monday to officially announce that the region will be home to a Department of Defense photonics institute. According to a report by Gannett’s Albany Bureau, Biden will make the announcement at Canal Ponds Business Park in Greece. The business park is home to a former […]
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Finger Lakes council gets outline of competition plan
Later this year, we’ll learn the winners of the Upstate Revitalization Initiative; three regions in Upstate New York will each receive $500 million in economic development funding from the state. The decision will be based, more or less, on detailed documents outlining each region’s plan for investing the money. The plans are currently being put together; […]
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Our school-reform quest
“We don’t blame teachers or anybody for the current situation. We do blame longstanding systematic, social, and economic issues.”
Posted inNews & Opinion
UR drug may improve memory
A team of scientists at the University of Rochester, led by Dr. Harris Gelbard and Stephen Dewhurst, UR vice dean of research, may have developed the first drug to improve memory and cognitive ability in patients with certain types of illnesses. And a new company, Camber NeuroTherapeutics, has been founded to usher the drug called […]
