Governor Cuomo Announces Major Step Forward for UAlbany’s ETEC Initiative

Artist's rendering of the planned Emerging Technology and Entrepreneurship Complex on the Harriman Campus.

ALBANY, N.Y. (February 5, 2016) -- Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that the University at Albany’s Emerging Technology and Entrepreneurship Complex (ETEC) will be located on the Harriman Campus. By coupling cutting edge research with economic development initiatives, it will spur the transfer of ideas and new technologies to commercial enterprises.

The move ensures that the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity (CEHC) will be the centerpiece of UAlbany’s ETEC initiative, as well as UAlbany’s Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center and the New York State Mesonet, a state-of-the-art weather observation system developed to support better planning for extreme and dangerous weather events.

The University will redevelop 12 acres in the southwest corner of the Harriman Campus to construct the 236,000 square-foot, single-building complex which is being completed as part of the NYSUNY 2020 program.

"UAlbany is extremely grateful for Governor Cuomo’s vision and leadership and the trust he has put in the University at Albany to help make New York more secure, better protected, and better prepared to mitigate threats, whether they're nature's hazards or man-made dangers,” said UAlbany President Robert J. Jones. “UAlbany’s collaboration with other state agencies will ensure that the expertise each partner brings will expand our collective ability to achieve the Governor’s goal of implementing the most sophisticated homeland defense system ever designed by any state."

The Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES)-funded Mesonet initiative, as well as the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity, will benefit from their proximity to many of New York State's key homeland security agencies including the Office of Emergency Management, Forensic Investigation Center and New York State Police headquarters, as well as UAlbany’s School of Public Health’s unique 30-year partnership with the NY State Department of Health.

"This new complex will help keep New York on the cutting edge of technological innovation, as well as help ensure we are prepared for emerging threats, such as extreme weather and terrorism that are increasingly becoming the new normal," Governor Cuomo said. "By bringing academia and the business sector together, we are enabling the industries vital to our preparedness effort to grow and thrive right here in New York."

Site planning is underway and construction is expected to begin in 2017, with completion targeted for 2020. View renderings of the ETEC aerial and ground level views.

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