ALBANY, NY – SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) announced today that the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding the institution $1.25 million with matching funds from Empire State Development (ESD) in the amount of $500,000 to help establish the Advanced Manufacturing Performance Center (AMP Center), which is expected to support thousands of current and future high-tech jobs by enhancing research and development opportunities and strengthening high-tech career pathways within the Mohawk Valley and Capital Region’s multi-billion dollar advanced manufacturing-based ecosystem.

“We are grateful to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration and Empire State Development for recognizing that SUNY Poly has an incredible ability to partner with complementary semiconductor-based companies to improve industry practices while also providing an inspiring way to match people with the high-tech jobs that are in demand,” said Dr. Bahgat Sammakia, Interim President of SUNY Polytechnic Institute.  “In partnership with Edwards Vacuum, INFICON, and NY Wired for Education, we look forward to leveraging the EDA and ESD funds to support the advanced manufacturing careers that New York State and SUNY Poly are working hard to create and sustain through its top tier high-tech education.”

“The AMP Center will be led by CATN2 at SUNY Poly, one of the state’s Centers for Advanced Technology, which focuses on developing applications for new technologies,” said Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Howard Zemsky. “The Center is a notable example of an industry-university partnership that builds on our academic and regional assets to grow the advanced manufacturing industry in the Mohawk Valley and Capital Region and attract even more companies to the area, creating a pipeline of high-tech careers.”

“The EDA is committed to supporting locally-driven plans to spur new opportunity and jobs in the manufacturing sector,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Jay Williams. “This EDA investment will help to establish a new Advanced Manufacturing Performance Center that will drive the region’s research and development and workforce training needs forward.”

Michael Fancher, Director of the New York State Center for Advanced Technology in Nanoelectronics and Nanomaterials (CATN2), which will lead the effort, said, “The AMP Center, through access to a full suite of state-of-the-art manufacturing-scale tools and innovative data platforms, will establish three test-beds – equipment test-beds to support the research by component, sub-system, and site-service companies and to evaluate their respective role in the manufacturing process; big data development test-beds to support the data analytics companies that obtain data resulting from tens-of-thousands of sensors monitoring all aspects of the fab with the manufacturing output; and, a learning management deployment system test-bed to efficiently train the highly skilled technician-level workforce to support jobs that have been or will be announced in the Mohawk Valley.”

For the initiative’s research focus, the AMP Center, in partnership with Edwards Vacuum, a leading developer and manufacturer of sophisticated vacuum products, abatement solutions and related services, will study all potential impacts and end results of advanced semiconductor manufacturing by developing experiments to optimize conditions, minimize wafer variability and defects, and determine how to best eliminate them, creating greater efficiencies for vacuum systems. This research will take place at both SUNY Poly’s world-class Albany NanoTech Complex cleanrooms and at the Computer Chip Commercialization Center (Quad-C), located at SUNY Poly’s Utica campus. Some of the world’s most advanced semiconductor tools have been outfitted with numerous sensors which will now be able to be fully utilized, and partnering corporations of all sizes can use these systems to play a role in advancing the industry. The development portion of the initiative, in partnership with INFICON, which provides advanced instruments for gas analysis, measurement, and control, will integrate discrete data systems and establish advanced, real-time feedback and data correlation capabilities for accelerated process development.

"Edwards Vacuum Ltd. is proud and honored to be part of the AMP Center in partnership with SUNY Poly, New York State, and the EDA,” said Scott Balaguer, Edwards Vacuum Vice-President – North America Semi-DSL BLM. "This grant is the result of a team effort between public and private enterprises working together to further develop New York State's workforce and provide the research and development capability that is essential to the high-tech semiconductor industry.

Complementing both the research and development efforts that comprise the AMP Center, a partnership with Albany-based NY Wired for Education will create and provide a technician training portal for workforce assessment and skills mastery that will aim to better align the local and regional workforce with the technical jobs that are being enabled by the construction, operation, and servicing of advanced computer chip fabrication facilities. For example, trainees will be able to gain basic knowledge and skills related to: building and testing vacuum systems; data system installation, networking, and maintenance; nanoparticle handling; and operations and applications of analytical metrology, among other areas which can lead to technician certification.

"New York Wired is thrilled to participate in the innovative Advanced Manufacturing Performance program in collaboration with SUNY Poly, New York State, EDA, and the initiative’s other partners,” said Brian Lee, CEO, New York Wired for Education. “By offering our nationally proven workforce technology tools, AMP will help New Yorkers gain the skills to qualify for high paying manufacturing jobs.”

Serving as anchors, the industry partners’ goal is to grow an even larger cluster of companies, propelling the long-term operation of the AMP Center, which will have an added emphasis on the Mohawk Valley. There, workforce training support will be critical for the New York Power Electronics Manufacturing Consortium’s (NY-PEMC) packaging center at Quad-C, which will develop the next-generation of more efficient and robust computer chips.

“SEMI, and specifically the Semiconductor Components, Instruments, and Subsystems (SCIS) Special Interest Group, is thrilled by the federal and New York State governments’ commitments to advanced manufacturing,” said Jonathan Davis, SEMI Global Vice President, Industry Advocacy. "The AMP Center will provide the industry with a leading-edge technology development and evaluation site to support SEMI’s SCIS in establishing industry standards to align with the growing demand for data analytics training and specialized work related to defectivity and other important manufacturing related areas. The AMP Center will also focus on the multi-tiered challenge of supporting a workforce that is critical to the future growth and success of several advanced manufacturing industries, including semiconductor.”

The AMP Center will be managed by the CATN2, which is based at SUNY Poly and supports the transition of emerging innovations in technology by acting as a bridge between each phase in the research, development, and deployment (RD&D) commercialization continuum. Specifically, the CATN2 couples SUNY Poly’s “research-phase” innovation and education pipeline with “development-phase” pilot-prototype resources and “deployment-phase” scale-up capabilities, all with an eye toward enabling high-technology economic growth across New York State.

An agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, EDA makes investments in economically distressed communities in order to create jobs for U.S. workers, promote American innovation, and accelerate long-term sustainable economic growth by leading the federal economic development agenda, promoting competitiveness, and preparing the nation's regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy.

Empire State Development, the economic development arm for New York State, promotes a vigorous and growing state economy, encouraging business investment and job creation, and supporting diverse, prosperous local economies through the efficient use of loans, grants, tax credits, real estate development, marketing, and other forms of assistance. ESD is focused on strengthening New York State’s innovation-based economy through partnerships with acclaimed universities, promoting entrepreneurialism through the development of incubators, next-generation manufacturing and technology hubs across the state, and providing hands-on technical and financial assistance to help big and small businesses meet their goals.

A photo is available for use in publication, courtesy of SUNY Poly. To download, please visit the following website and click on the icon in the upper right hand corner; captions are provided under the “info” icon: https://goo.gl/photos/RGpcz5orQbENGxBG8

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SUNY Polytechnic Institute. SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) is New York’s globally recognized, high-tech educational ecosystem, formed from the merger of the SUNY College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering and SUNY Institute of Technology. SUNY Poly offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in the emerging disciplines of nanoscience and nanoengineering, as well as cutting-edge nanobioscience and nanoeconomics programs at its Albany location and undergraduate and graduate degrees in technology, including engineering, cybersecurity, computer science, and the engineering technologies; professional studies, including business, communication, and nursing; and arts and sciences, including natural sciences, mathematics, humanities, and social sciences at its Utica/Rome location. Thriving athletic, recreational, and cultural programs, events, and activities complement the campus experience. As the world’s most advanced, university-driven research enterprise, SUNY Poly boasts billions of dollars in high-tech investments and over 300 corporate partners. For information visit www.sunycnse.com and www.sunypoly.edu.