Times Union: Tech Valley High School finally home in Albany

School moves into space at SUNY Polytechnic Institute By Larry Rulison | Published 7:18 pm, Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Albany

Tech Valley High School is finally home.

After several years at two different locations in Rensselaer County, state and local officials held a ribbon-cutting Wednesday for the high school's new $8.5 million location on the Albany campus of SUNY Polytechnic Institute, formerly known as the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering.

Tech Valley High, which is a collaboration of two local BOCES districts, will only stay in the new, 25,000 square-foot building for one academic year before moving into its permanent home on the SUNY Poly campus — the currently-under-construction ZEN building — sometime next summer.

Although placing a high school on a college campus is unusual, the concept is part of SUNY Poly's educational role to serve children from pre-K to graduate school. A children's science museum will also be located in the ZEN building, which will operate as a living lab and classroom at the same time. "It is vital that we prepare our young people to enter the increasingly global and high-tech workforce that is taking shape around us," said Alain Kaloyeros, CEO of SUNY Poly. "The sooner we can begin that process, the better."

SUNY Poly, which specializes in semiconductor manufacturing and research, recently split from the University at Albany and has aligned itself with the former SUNY Institute of Technology in Utica, creating a high-tech university covering many technologies.

In addition to its campuses in Albany and Utica, the school has established research and manufacturing sites across the state spanning from Saratoga County to Buffalo, with solar technology becoming an increasing focus in addition to computer chip manufacturing.

Tech Valley High, which pulls students from 46 school districts covered by Capital Region BOCES and Questar III BOCES, will have 140 students enrolled for the fall semester. The school recently moved into its new building from its previous location at the University at Albany's East Campus in East Greenbush.

Once completed next year, the $191 million ZEN building (the ZEN stands for zero-energy nanotechnology) will serve as a zero-energy building that will house not only the high school and the museum, but also the school's renewable energy departments and many corporate tenants. It will also house a state data center.

lrulison@timesunion.com • 518-454-5504 • @larryrulison