School looks to move museum to its campus to draw kids to science

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="750"] Mervin Morales, right, and his daughter Kiara Morales, 9-years-old, play with the magnetic wall display at CMOST children's museum on Saturday Nov.7, 2015 in North Greenbush, N.Y. (Michael P. Farrell/Times Union)[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="751"] A view of the space at the Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at SUNY Polytechnic Institute that would become the new home of a proposed children's science museum, is seen here on Monday, Nov. 9, 2015, in Albany, N.Y. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="751"] A copy of a early version floor plan for a space at the Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at SUNY Polytechnic Institute that would become the new home of a proposed children's science museum, seen here on Monday, Nov. 9, 2015, in Albany, N.Y. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)[/caption]

Albany

SUNY Polytechnic Institute is not only angling to be the state's biggest power player in technological research and job growth — it also wants to hook kids into nanoscale science as early as possible.

Hence SUNY Poly's plans to transform a piece of its sprawling Fuller Road campus into an estimated $100 million remake of the Children's Museum of Science and Technology (CMOST) that is now in North Greenbush. Organizers expect the 16,000-square-foot space will be a "world-class" children's museum.

The new CMOST, which will be one of the few university-owned children's museums in the country, is slated to open by the end of 2016.

"If you want your kid to be a pro football player or a pro basketball player or a pro musician, you train them young starting at 5 or 6 years old," said Pradeep Haldar, a SUNY Poly vice president who is also now CMOST's board chairman. "Why don't we do that for scientists and engineers?"

Haldar said a children's science center fits in with part of SUNY Poly's mission, which is to develop the state's workforce over the next 20 years. SUNY Poly, with support from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has exploded in its expansions, building space across upstate in an attempt to attract high-tech companies while growing the state university's programs.

But CMOST is also in keeping with SUNY Poly's other diverse ventures — like locating Tech Valley High School on the Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering's Fuller Road campus in fall 2014, and leasing space at its Central New York Hub for Emerging Nano Industries in Syracuse this year to two film production companies.

"Our goal is always to do something that recognizes us and puts us in a place that's second to none," said Haldar.

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By Lauren Stanforth Published Sunday, November 29, 2015