The left hook landed in 1993. The Federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) announced that Griffiss Air Force Base, which opened near Rome, New York in 1942, would close as part of a Cold War 

drawdown of United States strategic forces. The knockout punch came in September 1995 when the American flag was lowered for the last time, marking the loss of thousands of military personnel and nearly 1,200 civilian jobs. The only entities that remained on the abandoned 3,552 acres were the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the Eastern Air Defense Sector of NORAD, and the Rome office of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Closing the facility was the culmination of a nearly half-century decline in the vocational base of the Mohawk Valley, with an attendant loss of jobs and population. The city of Rome illustrates the change, declining from a high of 51,646 residents in the 1960 U.S. Census to 32,415 in the 2016 estimated Census.

“It’s fair to say the Mohawk Valley was shell-shocked back in 1995,” says Steven J. DiMeo, president of Mohawk Valley EDGE, an economic-development corporation established in 1995 and structured as a single-point of contact for businesses seeking to locate and grow in the area. “The long-term economic decline and loss of jobs and population was depressing. There seemed to be no end in sight. In retrospect, however, the base closing forced the community to create a new beginning. Local leadership took on the task of reinventing not only Griffiss, realigning the existing structures and building new ones, but also the entire region. Mohawk Valley EDGE assumed the lead role in bringing all of the stakeholders together from the conceptual stage through the planning, economic stabilization, and growth phases. We forged a consensus to create a diversified and stable economy, create high-paying jobs, and attract both private and public investment.

“We knew this would be a decades-long process requiring patience and dedication,” continues DiMeo. “The community spent a lot of time assessing our SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats). In developing a comprehensive strategy, we focused on our competitive advantages and community needs. I’m sure most area residents in 1995 saw the base closure as a tragedy, but a few visionaries saw it as the start of a new era in economic development.”

IT/cybersecurity cluster

“We naturally focused on a few … [occupational] clusters,” opines DiMeo. “The Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) at Griffiss was a logical choice to begin converting the base into a business and technology park. AFRL employed hundreds of the nation’s top scientists and engineers and also housed a number of on-site contractors. The lab served as the core of a [regional] cluster to attract other IT and cybersecurity companies. In the last quarter century, AFRL has grown to employ nearly 1,200 people with a five-county economic impact in excess of $400 million in 2018. The payroll alone is more than $142 million annually, and wages average nearly $120,000. The lab, operating with an annual budget of $1.3 billion, also generates 1,300-plus indirect jobs. There’s no doubt that AFRL has been the catalyst of growth in the IT and cybersecurity cluster. Our IT/cyber community now includes companies such as AIS, Peraton, BAE Systems, Siege Technologies, ANDRO, and Booz Allen Hamilton to name a few. The only limit to our growth here is the lack of talent available.” Nationally, there are 30,000 unfilled IT positions paying an average wage of nearly $74,000.

Griffiss Business & Technology Park

“Success in developing the Business & Technology Park required both patience and determination,” adds DiMeo, “but the formerly abandoned base now houses 77 businesses which employ between 5,800 and 5,900 workers. Since 1995, we have invested $625 million in capital expenditures improving the Park. Just in the past year, Park construction included completion of State Route 825, undertaking an RFP for a mixed-use development of the former B240 site [opening up 26 to 27 acres], selecting 10 teams for the first cohort from the AFRL Commercialization Academy plus launching IDEA NY (one-year business accelerator), and starting construction on a 32,000-square-foot tech building to serve as NYSTEC’s corporate headquarters and to offer space for other tech companies. Looking back, the conversion of the base has been a huge success. [Ironically,] our problem today is creating more space in the Park to meet the demand.”

UAS cluster

Another developing cluster, unforeseen at the start of the economic renaissance, is the growth of unmanned-aircraft systems (UAS), better known to the public as drones. 

“Our region is in on the ground floor,” notes DiMeo. “Mohawk Valley EDGE works with the Griffiss International Airport and Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research (NUAIR) Alliance, a cross-regional interstate partnership dedicated to growing this industry. The key is developing the quality and integrity of digital communications to allow for flying beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS). Central New York is one of only seven federally designated test sites, and the state has committed $35 million to create a 50-mile corridor between Syracuse and Rome to develop test-range infrastructure with high-precision, ground-based, air-traffic-surveillance testing capabilities. The facility, which has conducted more than 2,500 drone flights, has already attracted more than 50 companies to the region, and 27 companies have created or committed to 1,400 jobs in the Mohawk Valley and Central New York. The addition of the new Sky Dome, which is the nation’s largest indoor, instrumented UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) experimental site, will allow year-round testing. The goal is to become the Underwriting Laboratory for the industry creating and certifying UAS standards for drones. Once the BVLOS problem is solved, the potential for the drone industry is unlimited. I think this region holds the key to the solution and the industry’s future.”

Nanotechnology cluster

High-tech manufacturing was an early focus of the economic-development plan, with nanotechnology at the top of the list. 

“From the time I joined Mohawk Valley EDGE,” says DiMeo, “we have wanted to develop our nanotechnology infrastructure to attract semiconductor manufacturers. We’re anticipating rapid growth based on projections that the industry will reach $1 trillion in sales by 2025, driven by demand for AI (artificial intelligence), autonomous marketing, the introduction of 5G, and the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT). New York committed decades ago to attracting semiconductor manufacturing to the state, and the success in the Albany area confirms its continuing investment. We have worked consistently since the late 1990s to create both research and manufacturing sites here, and our 20-plus-year commitment is beginning to pay off. By the middle of this summer, the Marcy Nanocenter will be truly ‘shovel-ready’ for manufacturing with only site hook-ups required. In just the past three years, we injected more than $78 million in infrastructure programming extending natural-gas and dual-circuit [electrical] transmission lines, installing sewer extension and upgrades, and completing construction of the Ring Road. To shorten the permitting process for a manufacturer, Mohawk Valley EDGE has applied for an air permit which can be transferred to the end-user, cutting six months off a company’s start-up process. We work closely with Empire State Development to market the site globally, and now I think it’s just a matter of market timing before we close a deal with a manufacturer.”

DiMeo continues, “In March, the state announced an $880 million partnership between SUNY Poly[technic Institute] in Albany and Applied Materials, [a global equipment manufacturer with $14.5 billion in annual revenue and 18,000 employees worldwide]. The investment will support a semiconductor research center called META (Materials Engineering and Technology Accelerator). META will develop next-generation materials to be used in chip making, AI hardware, and cutting-edge devices, as well as work on materials for the life-sciences, the auto industry, and advanced-optical centers. META should serve as a magnet to help attract high-tech manufacturers to the Mohawk Valley. In Marcy, Danfoss (Danish corporation) has started its operation in what was formerly the QUAD-C building, located just a mile from the Nanocenter. The company’s silicon-power division will eventually occupy 250,000 square feet, including 52,000 square feet of clean-room space, to produce power modules for industries such as renewable-energy and automotive. Danfoss anticipates hiring 300 employees over the next five years.”

DiMeo points out that while much of the attention to economic-development centers on high-tech clusters such as IT/cybersecurity, nanotechnology, and UAS, Mohawk Valley EDGE is also focused on expanding areas such as advanced manufacturing, agribusiness, tourism, transportation/distribution, aviation, and craft food and beverage. He also applauded local business efforts to double the number of student internships to help educate area students and showcase local employment opportunities.

Community partnership

Education. Recruiting talent is a challenge in the Mohawk Valley. Over the past three decades, this reporter has listened to the same mantra: “Our best success in attracting employees is selecting people who live in the region, have family here, or grew up here and would like the opportunity to return.” To meet the challenge, the region boasts a number of colleges and universities that annually generates more than 7,000 students ready to enter the workforce. 

“Institutions such as Utica College, SUNY Poly, and MVCC (Mohawk Valley Community College) have crafted programs to meet the demands of the cybersecurity, UAS, and nanotechnology industries,” posits DiMeo. “At the high-school level, P-TECH (Pathways in Technology Early College High School) is a successful program focusing on STEM (science, technology engineering, and math) and also incorporating classes on leadership, communications, and problem solving. In addition, students experience business internships, and the program’s graduates earn both a high-school and associates degree. To encourage entrepreneurship, the Mohawk Valley has created a number of incubators ranging from MVCC’s downtown thINCubator; the Griffiss Institute’s GIBI designed as an intermediary between AFRL’s research and the Mohawk Valley marketplace; and IDEA NY, a business accelerator targeting entrepreneurs in cybersecurity, UAS, and IT. Utica College just completed construction on a 15,000-square-foot building to house the school’s construction-management program, which will help to fill the need for training construction personnel.

The cool factor. “When you develop a high-tech economy,” contends DiMeo, “you also need to develop an environment that attracts and retains the personnel who ensure the success of the economy. The quality of life is a key factor, especially with Millennial workers who prefer urban living and a vibrant downtown. In Utica, we have seen a transformation of the city starting with the Bagg’s Square neighborhood which offers recreational, entertainment, residential, and commercial opportunities. The city is also developing the Harbor Point waterfront district, the Nexus Center sports complex, and enhancing Broad Street. The AUD (Utica Memorial Auditorium) has been totally renovated, and the community now features both professional hockey and soccer with sellout crowds. Our attention is also focused on the new downtown MVHS (Mohawk Valley Health System) campus where construction is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of this year. When the 25-acre, medical complex opens, it will serve as a major urban-development catalyst drawing more than 4,000 employees downtown every day.

“Rome is also transforming its urban neighborhoods,” asserts DiMeo. “After 10 years of brownfield opportunity area (BOA) planning, the planners have put together all of the pieces needed to make Rome a vibrant destination. The city has branded a marketing plan, called “Rome Rises,” to convert the Erie Boulevard corridor and the downtown BOA into residential neighborhoods and industrial nodes. Rome was recently awarded a $10 million DRI (Downtown Revitalization Initiative) by the state to help implement the development.”

Place matters. It’s clear that the quality of place is a critical element of the Mohawk Valley’s renaissance. The area has invested in everything from business development to waterfront revitalization, streetscape reconstruction, parks, arts, and cultural programming, and mixed-use structures. Today’s workers are looking for more than just a job: They are attracted first to a diverse community with a variety of living options that are affordable, recreational choices, and educational opportunities. Much of the monetary investment in Utica and Rome is both visible and appreciated by the public, but much of it is not seen and therefore taken for granted by the everyday resident. Oneida County, for example, has invested millions of dollars in infrastructure including replacing aging water and sewer lines, flood mitigation, roads, and bridges.

Mohawk Valley EDGE. Much of the credit for the area’s renaissance is owed to the Mohawk Valley EDGE. With a staff of just 13, the organization has spearheaded and coordinated the effort to create partnerships in advancing the community’s economic revival. Headed by DiMeo, a Utica native, MV EDGE has persevered in spite of the community naysayers, a regulatory morass, and multiple setbacks. DiMeo’s management style seems to mirror that of Vince Lombardi, the famed coach of the Green Bay Packers, who said: “It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up.” Or perhaps DiMeo’s management style is more akin to that of Rocky Balboa, who knew something about getting knocked down and still went the distance against the boxing champion. In DiMeo’s own words: “I just shut out the noise and stick to the plan … For me, economic development is a team sport … The result will speak for itself.”                                                        

ROME — Rome–based Assured Information Security (AIS) is working on a new U.S. Air Force contract and has also opened a new office in Denver, Colorado.

AIS is a growing cybersecurity firm that is headquartered at 153 Brooks Road in the Griffiss Business & Technology Park in Rome. The firm also has offices in Massachusetts, Maryland, Ohio, Colorado, and Oregon.

The Air Force has awarded AIS a $48.4 million contract for “full spectrum” cyber capabilities. Under the terms of the pact, AIS will provide the Air Force with “tools and technologies to aid in cyber warfare,” per a March 7 news release from the company. 

This contract provides for research, development, and transition of cyber technologies to enable rapid cyber operations and will result in the “accelerated delivery” of cyber products.

When asked what is meant by the phrase “full spectrum,” Salvatore Paladino, program manager at AIS for the agile cyber solutions (ACS) group, tells CNYBJ that he had “two ways to characterize that.”

The ACS group handles both research and developing and transitioning capabilities, he noted.

“We have folks that on the same day … [are] doing basic research and we have might folks that are enhancing a fielded capability, so that’s one way to define the full spectrum of cyber capabilities,” says Paladino, who spoke with CNYBJ on April 19.

The second way to characterize “full spectrum,” he noted, is that AIS is developing capabilities for defensive cyber operations and capabilities for offensive cyber operations.

“You could say the collection of capabilities that we’re developing are full spectrum, meaning that we’re developing defensive and offensive solutions,” says Paladino. 

In the company’s news release, Paladino called the contract “an exciting opportunity for AIS.”

“This work will have a measurable and powerful impact on cyber mission assurance by assisting the Air Force in maintaining cyber superiority,” he said.

In the interview, Paladino went on to say that a tool or technology for the Air Force could be an entire platform or could be a framework that allows for integration of several technologies.

“It could be a single application, or it could be a method or algorithm that improves an existing capability. That’s where the research comes in,” he says.

AIS will work on the contract through March 2024. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), also known as Rome Lab, is the contracting authority for the award. 

“They’re managing the contract. They’re putting it in place, and on that contract … we may be developing technologies for other organizations, both Air Force and other entities across the [U.S.] Department of Defense,” Paladino explains. 

“There is no doubt the Air Force made the right choice by selecting AIS for this important work in cybersecurity, which will enhance both our national defense and the regional economy,” U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) contended in the AIS release. “Together, the local workforces at AIS and Rome Lab will blend their expertise to deliver real results in developing our nation’s cybersecurity infrastructure.”

Founded in 2001, AIS is a cyber and information security company that provides services for the federal government and the intelligence community. 

AIS currently has more than 300 employees, including about 175 who work in Rome. It also operates nine facilities across the U.S.

New office 

AIS on March 26 held an open house and ribbon cutting at its new office in Denver.

The company previously had a presence in Greenwood Village, Colorado, and decided to expand and move to a location in the Denver Technology Center. 

“There are currently several hundred thousand unfilled cybersecurity positions in the United States,” Steve Flint, COO at AIS, said in the release. “Talented people have their pick of jobs and locations, but we believe our new office’s amenities — in addition to the location, office culture, and outstanding benefits —  will allow us to fill the office quickly.” 

This is the fourth office AIS has opened in the past two years, the firm said.

In the past six years, AIS said it has doubled its workforce, more than quadrupled its revenue, acquired three companies, and expanded to nine locations. That has led to the new offices.

The three companies AIS has acquired include GreyCastle Security, LLC, a Troy, New York–based cybersecurity firm with an additional office in Rochester. That deal closed in September 2016. 

It also acquired Ross Technologies, Inc. (RTGX) of Maryland in a deal that closed Aug. 1, 2016. RTGX is a Columbia, Maryland–based company that provides cybersecurity services for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and intelligence community.

AIS in 2015 acquired Information Security Solutions (ISS), a technology company based in the Washington, D.C. area. 

UTICA — The firms that are evaluating the “potential repurposing” of the current MVHS facilities will continue that effort for a few more months.

The Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) and the Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties selected CHA Consulting, Inc. to lead the effort, per a Feb. 22 news release. 

CHA is an Albany–based engineering-consulting firm that has an office in Syracuse. CHA is working with Alicia & Crewell Architects, P.C. of New Hartford on the study, says Robert Scholefield, VP of facilities and real estate at MVHS, who spoke with cnybj on April 11. 

Their work started in March, he notes. The work on the study will continue over a six-month period.

The repurposing project will look at the potential reuse of the three main MVHS campuses — which include St. Luke’s, St. Elizabeth, and Faxton — as MVHS develops a new, $480 million downtown Utica hospital, the organization announced on Feb. 22.

MVHS on April 10 said it appointed Scholefield as executive VP of facilities and real estate. He had been serving as COO and will continue in that role until MVHS finds a successor, he tells CNYBJ.

In this new role, Scholefield is responsible for overseeing the construction of the new downtown Utica hospital.

“I look at this project not only as a tremendous value to health care in our region and to the Mohawk Valley Health System, but as a lifelong resident of the Utica area, I also look at it as this tremendous catalyst for development of downtown Utica and development within this community,” says Scholefield.

At the same time, he noted that Mohawk Valley Health System has committed to finding new uses for the existing campuses.

“We’ve agreed that we will do whatever we can do to create a repurposing plan and work to sell those properties so they’re not left behind abandoned,” he adds.

The firms will conduct a combination of building evaluations, local real-estate evaluations, and assess market needs for the properties.

They’ll also work with local community members, including “neighbors [of] the facility, business owners, and local elected [officials] to get their input on what they believe is the best repurpose for the buildings,” says Scholefield.

Based on prior assessments, MVHS has indicated the Faxton campus will likely remain open. It provides services that include cancer treatment and outpatient rehabilitation.

MVHS noted that it will include Faxton in the study to “ensure that keeping it open best meets the needs of MVHS and the community.” 

CHA’s scope of services for the study involves five “broad” components for the three MVHS campuses. They include market research and analysis; zoning analysis; hazardous-material assessment; preliminary conditions assessment; and redevelopment-scenario analysis. 

Incorporating these components into the repurposing project will help MVHS develop a plan for the facilities that “fits in” with the long-term development plans of the surrounding municipalities and allows the facilities to become “positive economic contributors to the area,” the organization said.

Joseph Wicks, special projects manager at the Community Foundation, said, “This study is critical to identifying the best opportunities for reusing those properties and enhancing their neighborhoods. We look forward to supporting this effort and engaging with community residents and other partners, throughout the course of the study and beyond.”    

ROME — Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in Rome, known as Rome Lab, has awarded a SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) professor nearly $1.8 million in funding for work in developing next-generation computer systems.

Nate Cady, a nanobioscience professor at SUNY Poly’s Albany campus, will use the funding to enable future generations of computing systems by using memristors (or “memory resistors”). Memristors are nanoscale electronic switching devices that act like synapses in the human brain.

The funding award will allow Cady and his research team to create an overall hardware architecture and capability which can result in computing that can be “as much as 1,000 times as powerful as is currently available,” per an April 3 SUNY Poly news release. 

Supporting educational opportunities for a number of SUNY Poly students, this research will leverage the institution’s 300mm and 200mm fab facilities and research labs, in order to provide neuromorphic computing power that meets “stringent” Air Force requirements for applications such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), aircraft, satellites, and other deployable autonomous systems.

“On behalf of SUNY Poly, I am thrilled to congratulate Professor Cady on this latest grant from the Air Force Research Laboratory. It showcases the high-impact research our faculty conducts, as well as our world-class fabrication capabilities that are advancing next-generation computing while addressing power-consumption challenges to enable autonomous and deployable systems that can enhance our nation’s security and improve a number of the technologies we use each day,” Grace Wang, interim president of SUNY Poly, said. “This significant AFRL award is the most recent testament to SUNY Poly’s meaningful research, providing exciting opportunities for students to learn how these devices are fabricated.”

The Air Force Research Lab Information Directorate said it looks forward to working together with SUNY Poly in research and development of “hybrid CMOS/memristor processes that will enable powerful neuromorphic and other architectures” with greater capabilities for Air Force systems. 

“The advanced manufacturing capabilities at SUNY Poly further allow for rapid prototype development and fielding to the warfighter, which is critical for the Air Force rapid acquisition system,” Joseph Van Nostrand, principal electronics engineer, AFRL/RITB, and program manager, said in the SUNY Poly release. 

This follows an announcement last fall that the National Science Foundation awarded Cady $500,000 in funding from to develop advanced computing systems based on a “novel approach” to the creation of non-volatile memory architecture.

The research

Cady’s research, titled “Fabrication of Efficient Reconfigurable Neuromorphic Systems,” seeks to address the “significant slowdown” that has taken place in the expected performance improvements that result from scaling computer chips to smaller and smaller sizes.

It also looks to improve power consumption, which can “often be a critical limiting factor” for device performance. 

Cady’s research will focus on avoiding the “von Neumann bottleneck,” which currently results from the separate location of the processor and memory. This separation creates a limit on data throughput. However, combining storage and computation on the same device can avoid the bottleneck, SUNY Poly said. 

The research focuses on integrating logic and memory to achieve so-called “compute in memory” operations, “which are similar to how the human brain functions.” These neuro-inspired computer architectures can also perform computing tasks by breaking down information into low-voltage “spikes,” which saves power and enables the chips to “learn on the fly.” 

As a result of this increased computing capacity, these neuro-inspired computer architectures may be “particularly well suited” to handle problems requiring techniques and systems that can capture knowledge from an abundance of data, SUNY Poly said. 

For example, they could be “highly relevant” for advancing the internet of things, as well as a number of deployable, autonomous systems by capitalizing not only on its computing power, but also by seeking approaches that lead to “low-power, reconfigurable, high-efficiency brain-inspired computing capabilities.” 

Cady’s research will support a SUNY Poly postdoctoral researcher and graduate students, as well as a number of undergraduate students, who will be able to “learn first-hand” how to develop and fabricate the memristive neuromorphic structures, the university said.

“This grant is a perfect example of how our faculty’s cutting-edge research can help to tackle challenges such as computing bottlenecks and address them through the use of innovative solutions, which are possible through the use of SUNY Poly’s advanced facilities and resources,” Steven Schneider, interim provost at SUNY Poly, said in the release. “This announcement is also impactful for a number of our students who will be able to gain the unique opportunity to work on these devices and obtain unmatched lab and fab experience.”

“I am grateful to the AFRL for supporting our research which now represents a successful transition from the first memristive devices that were developed at SUNY Poly using the state-of-the-art resources available here, to developing an actual product — a functional neuromorphic computer chip,” Cady. “A key challenge that our research seeks to overcome is how to improve memristor performance from the standpoint of reliability and power consumption. I look forward to working on the full integration of our memristive devices into a full processor to implement low-power neuromorphic computation that is also capable of high accuracy.”