For Release: Immediate – May 16, 2015

Contact: Jerry Gretzinger, Vice President of Strategic Communications and Public Relations

(518) 956-7359 | jgretzinger@sunycnse.com

SUNY POLY HOSTS SPRING COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY  FOR ITS CNSE GRADUATES AT ITS NANOTECH COMPLEX

Ceremony Follows SUNY Poly Utica Commencement and Brings Total Number of Graduating Students to 700, Representing Largest Class in Institution’s History

Albany, NY – As a testament to Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s high-tech educational pipeline, SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (SUNY Poly CNSE) announced that 48 students graduated with undergraduate and advanced degrees during commencement exercises held Saturday, May 16. The graduates join those who received degrees at SUNY Poly's Utica commencement last Saturday, May 9, for a total of 700 students to receive degrees at both sites representing the largest graduating class in the institution's history.

“I am pleased to congratulate the 2015 SUNY Poly CNSE graduates who have gained cutting-edge skills that are in growing demand as a result of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s leadership driving New York State’s burgeoning high-tech ecosystem,” said SUNY Polytechnic Institute President and CEO Dr. Alain Kaloyeros who provided SUNY Poly CNSE’s inaugural graduation address. “As a testament to Governor Cuomo’s support of innovation-based business growth and educational opportunities in New York, the students’ accomplishment showcases just how SUNY Poly’s emphasis on career readiness and advanced skills for the 21st Century economy provides an unmatched educational experience that proactively anticipates the needs of New York State’s growing number of leading-edge job opportunities.”

“I commend this newest cohort of SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering graduates whose focused efforts and academic preparation are paving the way for powerful job and advanced degree opportunities throughout New York State,” said SUNY Poly Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; Professor of Nanoscale Science Dr. Robert Geer. “I am proud to see that these latest SUNY Poly CNSE graduates are choosing to pursue challenging career and educational pathways that will support them and strengthen communities as they call New York home for years to come.”

Forty-eight SUNY Poly CNSE graduate and undergraduate students, including forty-one domestic students (thirty-four from New York State) and seven international students, received degrees during the commencement recognition ceremony at SUNY Poly CNSE’s world-class Albany NanoTech Complex. Seven students were awarded Ph.D.’s, seventeen earned master’s degrees, and of the twenty-four in SUNY Poly CNSE’s undergraduate class who were awarded Bachelor of Science degrees, nine had a Nanoscale Science concentration and fifteen had a Nanoscale Engineering concentration.

The students who were honored during the spring commencement ceremony plan to pursue a wide variety of career and educational opportunities. Of those graduate students who have definitive career or educational plans after graduating, 92 percent have accepted positions at leading corporations in the fields of semiconductor or bioscience-based research and development, including at SUNY Poly CNSE student startup Glauconix, and such globally recognized corporations as IBM, Tokyo Electron, and GLOBALFOUNDRIES, among others, or they are pursuing advanced degrees in New York State, with many choosing to continue their education by enrolling in SUNY Poly CNSE’s Ph.D. program. Of those undergraduate students with definitive post-graduation career or educational plans, more than half have secured high-tech positions or will pursue graduate studies in New York State.

SUNY Poly is the world’s first and only college to offer comprehensive undergraduate and graduate-level curricula focused on nanotechnology research and development through both its graduate program, which was introduced in 2004, and its undergraduate program, which began in 2010. SUNY Poly’s educational offerings are supported by the unmatched intellectual and technological resources of its $20 billion Albany NanoTech Complex and a growing portfolio of high-tech research, development, and commercialization facilities that are part of innovation hubs in cities across upstate New York, from Buffalo, Rochester, Canandaigua, and Syracuse, to Utica, Halfmoon, and Albany.

Including this latest class of graduates, SUNY Poly alumni now number more than 26,000.