I wanted to share the following news release with you:

For Release:    Immediate – January 26, 2016

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

(518) 956-7359 | jgretzinger@sunypoly.edu

SUNY POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF NANOBIOSCIENCE SUSAN SHARFSTEIN NAMED SUNY RESEARCH FELLOW FOR 2015-2016 ACADEMIC YEAR

Prestigious fellowship will focus on designing and implementing SUNY-wide blueprint for research excellence through cutting-edge instrumentation

ALBANY, NY - SUNY Polytechnic Institute and the Research Foundation for SUNY today announced the appointment of Susan Sharfstein, associate professor of nanobioscience, as a SUNY Research Fellow for the 2015-2016 academic year. Professor Sharfstein will focus on studying, designing, and implementing a SUNY-wide blueprint for continued research excellence through the maintenance and acquisition of cutting-edge instrumentation.

“As part of our ambitious performance improvement framework, all SUNY campuses have committed to strengthening SUNY’s impact on solutions to state and global challenges through leading research. Clearly, cutting-edge instrumentation, and access to it for faculty across the System, is key to the success of our efforts,” said Alexander N. Cartwright, SUNY Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor and Interim President of the Research Foundation for SUNY.  “We are so pleased to welcome Professor Sharfstein to work on this critical issue. Our thanks to her and to SUNY Poly for their willingness to share her time and expertise.”

“In furtherance of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s innovation-driven economic development strategy centered on the profound role research and discovery at SUNY campuses has on job creation and quality life, and in full support of Chancellor Nancy Zimpher’s vision of ‘systemness’ across SUNY, Professor Susan Sharfstein will collaborate with faculty and administrators to ensure that research excellence at all 64 campuses continues to be world-class and cutting-edge,” said SUNY Poly president and CEO Dr. Alain E. Kaloyeros. “SUNY Poly is honored to once again have its faculty recognized with this prestigious fellowship and I offer my sincere thanks and congratulations to Professor Sharfstein.”

“It is a true privilege to represent SUNY Polytechnic Institute alongside distinguished colleagues from across the university system as we work to translate scholarship and data into a smart plan that keeps SUNY at the forefront of research nationally and internationally in a manner that benefits all campuses and in turn every student, faculty member, and New Yorker,” said Professor Susan Sharfstein, Ph.D. “I want to thank President Kaloyeros and the entire SUNY Poly team for their continued support of this important work, and the Research Foundation for this prestigious fellowship.”

The SUNY Research Fellows program is a system-wide program that produces research and analysis that is aligned with Chancellor Zimpher’s key strategic initiatives and goals.  The program works in collaboration with the provost, the vice chancellor for research and economic development, campus vice presidents for research, the president of the Research Foundation, and faculty members from across the SUNY system.  Fellows develop strong working relationships within the SUNY research community and with potential industry partners, funding agencies, and other educational institutions and associations.

The SUNY Research Fellows program has several overarching goals:

• To advance programs that will grow research, increase collaboration, accelerate knowledge creation, and foster human capital development.
• To create longstanding impact to SUNY's research profile and portfolio, as well as to the fellow’s scientific career and leadership development.
• To provide the provost, the vice chancellor for research and economic development, and the president of the Research Foundation with faculty researcher perspectives on a broad range of issues.

Professor Susan Sharfstein, associate professor of nanobioscience at SUNY Polytechnic Institute, will develop a SUNY research implementation plan that allows campuses to maintain and update their research instrumentation by:

• Assessing equipment and expertise in the system and identifying strengths to tackle large problems;
• Understanding what other universities and institutions are doing to maintain currency of their instrumentation;
• Identifying opportunities for shared instrumentation among campuses and developing systems to facilitate sharing;
• Formulating an advocacy plan for obtaining funding to purchase, maintain, and manage research instrumentation.

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The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive university system in the United States, educating nearly 460,000 students in more than 7,500 degree and certificate programs on 64 college and university campuses, and online through Open SUNY. SUNY students and faculty across the state make significant contributions to research and discovery, resulting in nearly $1 billion of externally sponsored activity each year. There are 3 million SUNY alumni worldwide. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunity, visit www.suny.edu.

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 more than $43 billion in high-tech investments, over 300 corporate partners, and maintains a statewide footprint. The 1.3 million-square-foot Albany NanoTech megaplex is home to more than 4,000 scientists, researchers, engineers, students, faculty, and staff, in addition to Tech Valley High School. SUNY Poly operates the Smart Cities Technology Innovation Center (SCiTI) at Kiernan Plaza in Albany, the Solar Energy Development Center in Halfmoon, the Children’s Museum of Science and Technology (CMOST) in Troy, the Central New York Hub for Emerging Nano Industries in Syracuse, the Smart System Technology and Commercialization Center (STC) in Canandaigua, and the Photovoltaic Manufacturing and Technology Development Facility in Rochester where SUNY Poly also leads the American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics. SUNY Poly founded and manages the Computer Chip Commercialization Center (Quad-C) at its Utica location and also manages the $500 million New York Power Electronics Manufacturing Consortium, with nodes in Albany and Rochester, as well as the Buffalo High-Tech Manufacturing Innovation Hub at RiverBend, Buffalo Information Technologies Innovation and Commercialization Hub, and Buffalo Medical Innovation and Commercialization Hub. For information visit www.sunycnse.com and www.sunypoly.edu.