Oneonta company partners with UB on new battery technology

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In business since 1964, Custom Electronics has spent the past 20 years focusing on the development of new technology in areas such as lithium-ion batteries and energy-storage systems, says Michael Pentaris, company president. He was excited to partner with UB on this new technology that improves the anode part of a battery. Together with a […]

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“We’re excited to see that packaged and refined into a complete cell,” Pentaris says of the new anode.

The anode is made of hybrid composite materials rather than the traditional natural and synthetic graphite that forms current anodes, says Christopher Janson senior business-development manager at the Center of Excellence in Materials Informatics. The current process is environmentally challenging, he adds. The new process uses fewer solvents that are aqueous based.

“This new hybrid composite material can be synthesized,” in a more environmentally friendly manner, he says. Along with being better for the environment, it also has an ultra-high capacity.

Batteries with more energy storage are a win for the environment, Janson says. Higher-capacity batteries make electric vehicles a more viable option, for example.

The Center of Excellence in Materials Informatics has been developing the new material for three years now and is ready to test out the next stage — scaling the project for eventual manufacture, he says. That’s where Custom Electronics comes into play.

“We’ll take that and put it into a cell,” Pentaris says. Custom Electronics will look at efficiencies, packaging issues, and troubleshoot any problems like bulging or overheating.

Typically, the University at Buffalo licenses out the technically to a business to take those next steps. Janson is hopeful UB will be ready to license the new technology by late 2023 to hit the market as early as 2024. The ultimate goal is for a New York company — whether it’s Custom Electronics or another — to manufacture the anode and help grow the state’s green economy, he adds.

“We think we’ve got something quite compelling,” Janson says.

Headquartered at 87 Browne St. in Oneonta, Custom Electronics designs, manufactures, and supports capacitors and electronic assemblies for the commercial, medical, and defense markets.

The Center of Excellence in Materials Informatics at UB says it works with manufacturing companies and startups to accelerate research and development, invent new materials, and develop new products.

The Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund, launched in December 2016, provides more than $1 million in direct assistance annually to the manufacturing, research and development, technology, and entrepreneurial ecosystems. The fund has awarded $7.3 million in funding to support collaborative projects around the state.

FuzeHub is a nonprofit organization that connects small and mid-sized manufacturing businesses to resources, programs, and expertise for technology commercialization, innovation, and business growth.

ConnectALL rural-broadband initiative includes CNY locales

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Regional News, Subscriber Only, Technology

The state says it’s making progress in a plan to provide rural-broadand service across New York. Launched in May, the first phase of the ConnectALL 21st Century Municipal Infrastructure pilot program targets four communities — including two in the Southern Tier and a pair in the North Country. In addition to the completed network in

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The state says it’s making progress in a plan to provide rural-broadand service across New York.

Launched in May, the first phase of the ConnectALL 21st Century Municipal Infrastructure pilot program targets four communities — including two in the Southern Tier and a pair in the North Country.

In addition to the completed network in the village of Sherburne in Chenango County, construction is rapidly progressing in the town of Nichols in Tioga County.

Besides Sherburne and Nichols, the pilot program is also building fiber-optic infrastructure in the town of Diana in Lewis County and the town of Pitcairn in St. Lawrence County.

The program is using fiber-optic infrastructure on the New York Power Authority’s (NYPA) existing transmission system. The process is ahead of schedule due to NYPA and the Village of Sherburne and Town of Nichols optimizing implementation plans, the office of Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Dec. 20.

“We are so pleased to provide a state-of-the-art fiber optic network to our customers that will allow the village to control & monitor electric loads and at the same time provide Open Access to Internet Service Providers for all our electric customers,” Village of Sherburne Mayor William Acee said. The “timing could not have been better for entry into Governor Hochul’s ConnectALL Program. This investment in fiber infrastructure will benefit Sherburne in the same way” the electric system did in 1905, he added.

The $10 million, four-municipality pilot project has completed construction enabling high-speed internet access to more than 2,000 previously unserved or underserved households and business customers.

The pilot program is part of the $1 billion ConnectALL initiative, which Hochul announced in the 2022 State of the State address. The program represents the largest public investment in broadband in the state’s history, per Hochul’s office.

NYPA is managing the broadband deployment in the four locations leveraging its existing fiber-optic infrastructure for the “middle mile,” as authorized by the state legislature in April.

Sherburne Electric, Development Authority of the North Country, and Southern Tier Network are partnering on the last-mile broadband infrastructure. Private internet-service providers are using the public infrastructure to deliver internet service to residents.

The new customers in Sherburne are paying about $40 per month for service, “well below the average price for broadband in Chenango County, based on the Department of Public Service’s Regional 2022 Survey of Internet Service Pricing,” Hochul’s office said.

“Our community has come together and we are very happy to be provided this opportunity to support virtual school lessons and people continuing to working from home,” Esther Woods, supervisor of the Town of Nichols, said. “This is a huge asset to us. We feel we are finally in the 21st century. We want to thank all the people involved with this project; it’s greatly appreciated.”

Investment boosts Launch NY program for underserved entrepreneurs

Banks & Credit Unions, Employee Benefits & Human Resources, Insurance & Financial Services, New York News, Nonprofits, Small Business, Subscriber Only

“We’ve historically served about 40% minority- and/or women-led companies, so we are incredibly grateful that JPMorgan Chase recognizes the importance of doing even more to support underrepresented founders,” Marnie LaVigne, president and CEO of Launch NY, said. “We welcome others to join their lead as well, because we know we have only scratched the surface

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MARY LOEFFELHOLZ

People on the Move, Subscriber Only

MARY LOEFFELHOLZ has been named the next dean of the Cornell University School of Continuing Education (SCE). The university’s board of trustees executive committee on Dec. 8 approved the five-year appointment, effective March 1. Loeffelholz is the former dean of the College of Professional Studies and a professor of English at Northeastern University. She said

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MARLENE COMFORT

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Geneva–based Finger Lakes Health announced that its Soldiers and Sailors Health Center in Penn Yan has added MARLENE COMFORT, an adult-gerontology nurse practitioner, to its practice. Comfort completed her master’s degree in nursing, as well as her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Keuka College. She was also a graduate of Finger Lakes Health College of

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BRIAN SNEPENGER

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Laboratory Alliance of Central New York has named BRIAN SNEPENGER director of finance. He will oversee all of Laboratory Alliance’s finances and have direct supervision over materials management and purchasing, accounts payable, accounts receivable/revenue cycle, and facilities. Snepenger brings more than 15 years of finance experience in accounting, financial analysis, and business management to the

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Indium Corporation

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Indium Corporation announced several updates and additions to its technical service team. ADAM MURLING has been promoted to technical services manager – USA. In his new role, Murling leads the Americas technical service team. This includes hiring, training, coaching, and managing the team to realize its full potential. He also supervises the team’s project work

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Indium Corporation announced several updates and additions to its technical service team. ADAM MURLING has been promoted to technical services manager – USA. In his new role, Murling leads the Americas technical service team. This includes hiring, training, coaching, and managing the team to realize its full potential. He also supervises the team’s project work to ensure exceptional technical excellence is delivered to Indium Corp.’s current and prospective customers. Murling joined Indium in 2014 as a technical-support engineer. He received his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Clarkson University. Murling also completed Clarkson University’s Master of Science in Engineering Management (MSEM) program, a rigorous, two-and-a-half-year curriculum, while working full-time at Indium Corp.

SAM LYTWYNEC has been promoted to technical-support engineer II at Indium Corp. He had served as technical-support engineer since 2021. In his new role, he continues to provide leading-edge technical support to Indium’s customers and potential customers in the Northwest North America region. He is responsible for resolving complex solder-process challenges and will have a more direct role in project-related activities. Lytwynec joined Indium Corp. in 2019 as an R&D research associate. In this role, he assisted with lab processes and the development of improved approaches to procedure, chemistry, and experiment design, including work on Indium’s Durafuse alloy family. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering technology from SUNY Polytechnic Institute.

CARSON BURT and JOSHUA DOBRANSKY have both assumed roles as technical-support engineers at Indium Corp. They both assume responsibility for providing customers technical assistance to resolve soldering process-related issues. This includes assisting customers with optimizing their use of Indium’s soldering materials and providing product and process training. Burt was introduced to Indium Corp. as the analytical lab college intern in 2015. He then spent four years as an analytical chemist before rejoining Indium as an analytical technician. In this role, Burt was responsible for the calibration and standardization of instruments, interpreting data, and training other technicians. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Clarkson University. Dobransky served as the engineered solder materials (ESM) college intern in 2021. In this role, he was responsible for assessing ESM and thermal-interface materials for electric-vehicle platforms and other new technology areas. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

VIEWPOINT: The Impact of N.Y.’s New Pay-Transparency Law on Employers

Business Mentors, Law, Accounting & Taxes, Subscriber Only

On Dec. 21, 2022, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the long-anticipated New York State pay-transparency bill into law. The bill amends New York State Labor Law by adding a new section 194-b, which takes effect on Sept. 17, 2023. Labor Law § 194-b continues a recent trend toward pay transparency both nationally and locally, including similar

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Employers subject to the law are broadly defined to include nearly every entity with four or more employees, as well as agents and recruiters. Only temporary help firms, as defined under New York State Labor Law § 916(5), are exempt.

Similar to other pay transparency laws, Labor Law § 194-b requires employers to disclose an amount or a range of compensation for any open job, promotion or transfer opportunity that can or will be performed, at least in part, in New York state. The law defines “range of compensation” as “the minimum and maximum annual salary or hourly range of compensation . . . that the employer in good faith believes to be accurate at the time of the posting of an advertisement” for the job, promotion, or transfer opportunity. Advertisements for jobs, promotions, or transfer opportunities that are paid solely on commission must disclose that in writing. Additionally, the law requires employers to post a job description if one exists.

Labor Law § 194-b does not define “advertisement,” so the breadth of the law’s application to activities such as direct recruitment and internal promotion is unclear. Presumably, the state commissioner of labor will clarify the scope of coverage by regulations, which the law directs the commissioner to promulgate.

Employers are required to keep and maintain records in connection to the law, including the history of compensation ranges for each job, promotion, or transfer opportunity and the job descriptions for these positions, if such job descriptions exist.

Any person claiming to be aggrieved under Labor Law § 194-b may file a complaint with the New York State Department of Labor, which has the authority to impose civil penalties of up to $3,000 for violations of the law or forthcoming regulations. Employers are prohibited from refusing to interview, hire, promote, employ, or otherwise retaliate against an applicant or current employee for exercising any rights under this new law.

Finally, Labor Law § 194-b contains a provision stating that it shall not be construed or interpreted to supersede or preempt any local law, rules, or regulation. Most of the existing local pay-transparency laws in New York failed to predict a parallel state law (despite the fact that one had already passed in the state legislature), so employers subject to these laws will have to comply with overlapping obligations unless the local jurisdictions yield. The Westchester County Salary Transparency Law is the outlier and expressly gives way to “substantially similar” state legislation.

Seth F. Gilbertson is a senior counsel in the Buffalo office of Syracuse–based Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC. Contact him at sgilbertson@bsk.com. Lisa R. Feldman is an associate in Bond’s New York City office. Contact her at lfeldman@bsk.com. This article is drawn and edited from the law firm’s website.

DEC adds 18 new environmental conservation police officers after academy graduation

Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Health Care, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — On Dec. 9, 18 new environmental conservation police officers (ECOs) joined the ranks of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC’s) Division of Law Enforcement (DLE), after the 23rd Basic School graduation in Syracuse. The officers endured six months of intense training at the academy in Pulaski, where they learned basic

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Centro to seek public input as it plans to reshape public-transit systems

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Manufacturing & Engineering, Nonprofits, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Centro says it’s looking to “reshape” its public-transit systems and diversify transit options for its customers. “The commuting habits within the communities

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