Campus News

UAlbany Wins Funding in NYS Budget

by Mary Fiess (May 6, 2005)

The University at Albany will receive critical funding for important needs, including the completion of the Life Sciences Research Building, the new Entry/Admissions Building, and the Gen*NY*Sis Cancer Research Center, under the recently approved 2005-'06 New York State budget.

President Kermit L. Hall, in his faculty address April 27, noted that UAlbany had captured the "largest amount of capital funds of any institution in the state — $205 million," and he thanked Gov. George Pataki, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and "our legislative delegation for their extraordinary support."

In last year's budget, the University was left without adequate funding for unfinished buildings and critical maintenance projects. But the capital plan of the 2005-'06 budget redresses last year's problematic situation, said Hall.

Of the $205 million, $25 million is targeted for east campus facilities and will provide support for the Gen*NY*Sis Center and the Center for Functional Genomics to purchase new equipment and recruit new faculty/researchers. Those funds will also help alleviate the building space needs of the School of Public Health through expansion and renovation.

With the $17.5 million allocated for the Life Sciences Research Building, the University will complete equipping the facility and finish its second-floor, northeast wing. Equipment and site improvements for the new Entry/Admissions building will be funded through $7 million allocated to this project.

The School of Nanoscale Science and Engineering and its research arm, Albany NanoTech, received substantial support aimed at furthering economic growth in the region and state. Approximately $150 million will construct facilities at the Albany NanoTech complex to accommodate the advanced immersion lithography research and development of ASML Corp., and will support the establishment of another new, fully-equipped facility to house the research and development consortium, the International Venture for Nanotechnology (INVENT). The power and infrastructure needs demanded by nanosciences research growth will be met by the state's $5 million commitment toward a new power substation.

In addition, the downtown dormitory complex will be enhanced through a new $1 million renovation of Brubacher Hall.