ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell University and a company operating in Yates County are among the recipients of funding in the New York State Microelectronics Innovation Challenge.
The project involving Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR) Corporate Partnership & Innovation (OVPRI) and tomPhyzx LLC in Dundee was awarded $60,000 from the Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund.
Albany–based FuzeHub, the statewide New York Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) center, in partnership with the Northeast Regional Defense Technology Hub (NORDTECH) announced the winners earlier in the week. NORDTECH is a New York State–based consortium of government labs, defense companies, academics institutions, and technology research and development and manufacturing organizations.
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The grant funding will support advancements that enhance national defense through developments in the microelectronics industry. FuzeHub and NORDTECH awarded funding to a total of three projects. The additional recipients had ties to New York City; Newburgh in Orange County; and Milton in Saratoga County.
FuzeHub and NORDTECH received numerous applications for the funding initiative, which launched in November.
They challenged New York’s innovators to advance the state’s manufacturing capabilities within the microelectronics industry, either through advancing innovative technologies, or strengthening the microelectronics supply chain within New York.
“As a result of NORDTECH’s collaboration with FuzeHub, we are excited that the announced awardees will be able to drive advances in microelectronics-related innovations, which can simultaneously strengthen U.S. defense capabilities,” said Nicholas Fahrenkopf, NORDTECH technical director, said in the FuzeHub announcement. “We are proud to enable strategic microelectronics applications through this Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund opportunity and with our Microelectronics Challenge partners as this initiative works to strengthen the local and regional supply chain along with U.S. technological leadership.”
The Cornell/ tomPhyzx project
The Cornell/ tomPhyzx project aims to improve the precision and efficiency of light detectors used in air-sanitization systems, enhancing the control of UV-C systems that purify air in hospitals, schools, and military environments.
The innovation focuses on creating a ball-shaped visual detector that measures ultraviolet light from all directions with “exceptional accuracy,” per the announcement. Because of its substantially smaller design, this device is “better suited than current alternatives” for applications in microelectronics.