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“Brett is an outstanding leader with an impressive depth and breadth of experience in finance administration,” Syverud said. “His deep understanding of fiscal management in

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Central New York projects win FuzeHub manufacturing grants

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ALBANY, N.Y. — Clients of the CNY Biotech Accelerator in Syracuse and the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator in Binghamton, along with a project at Cornell University, have secured manufacturing grants. The nonprofit FuzeHub, which is based in Albany, issued nine grants totaling $450,000 with money through the Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund. All projects were allocated

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The nonprofit FuzeHub, which is based in Albany, issued nine grants totaling $450,000 with money through the Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund. All projects were allocated about $50,000 each.

FuzeHub says it provides small to medium-sized manufacturers with “guided access to an extensive network of industry experts, programs and resources to solve business growth challenges.”

“Stronger domestic production supports a more resilient economy,” Elena Garuc, executive director at FuzeHub, said in a July 5 announcement. “During this round of Manufacturing Grants, many of the projects that were selected involved advanced materials. As awardees work to solve technical challenges, they’re also supporting the onshoring of production, which is crucial for supply chain resiliency, especially in these post-pandemic times.”

The Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund, offering $1 million annually, supports a set of activities designed to spur technology development and commercialization across New York state. FuzeHub is administering this fund as part of its role as the Empire State Development (ESD)-designated statewide MEP (manufacturing extension partnership) center.

The Innovation Fund is made possible through funding from ESD’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR). FuzeHub in 2022 received additional funding from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), supporting additional awards benefiting startup companies, the nonprofit said.

Project descriptions

CathBuddy, Inc. is a client within the state-certified business incubator, CNY Biotech Accelerator (CNYBAC), which is part of Upstate Medical University.

With the $50,000 FuzeHub grant, this project will enable CathBuddy to identify New York–based contract manufacturers for the Aurie reusable system, a novel portable catheter-disinfection device to “increase reprocessor prototype readiness,” per a FuzeHub description.

The Aurie reusable catheter system helps 600,000 intermittent catheter users in the U.S. to automatically clean, disinfect, and lubricate their catheters between uses with the help of tap water and pre-packaged cleaning supplies.

In another project receiving a $50,000 FuzeHub grant, researchers at Cornell University are partnering with ceramic 3D printing company Lithoz America and energy startup Dimensional Energy (DE) to develop new, advanced printable ceramics that are better able to withstand the challenging operating environments of clean-energy reactors.

FuzeHub also awarded $50,000 in funding to KLAW Industries, which has operations at the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator in Binghamton.

For the past 40 years, New York’s recycled glass has been sent to landfills due to high contamination and the lack of an end market. KLAW Industries has developed a process to use this waste glass as a raw material to create Pantheon, a cement replacement for concrete, to decarbonize the construction industry.

Working with the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator, and its Southern Tier Clean Energy Incubator program, the proposed project will scale KLAW Industries’ logistics system to pick up waste glass from potential environmental-justice areas around New York and deploy Pantheon into the Southern Tier concrete market.

GrammaTech gets options picked up on $27.6M Navy contract

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ITHACA, N.Y. — GrammaTech, Inc. has been awarded a modification to a previously awarded contract from the U.S. Navy, bringing the total value of the pact to nearly $27.6 million. The cost-plus-fixed-fee modification is for the effort entitled, “Matured and Enhanced Total Platform Cyber Protection (TPCP) Technologies for Improved Security (METIS),” according to a July

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Hochul appoints New York’s first chief cyber officer

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ALBANY, N.Y. — A man who is described as a “leading expert in cybersecurity, cyber resilience, and intelligence” is New York’s first chief cyber officer. Colin Ahern will lead cross-agency efforts to protect New York State from “increasingly prevalent and sophisticated” cyber threats — “working to ensure the security and cyber resilience” of the state’s

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ALBANY, N.Y. — A man who is described as a “leading expert in cybersecurity, cyber resilience, and intelligence” is New York’s first chief cyber officer.

Colin Ahern will lead cross-agency efforts to protect New York State from “increasingly prevalent and sophisticated” cyber threats — “working to ensure the security and cyber resilience” of the state’s information assets and “critical infrastructure and integrity” of the state’s information assets, the office of Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a June 27 announcement.

Ahern will oversee all cyber-threat assessment, mitigation, and response efforts — working with executive management at every state agency to manage cyber risks and prevent attacks.

He will also lead the recently announced Joint Security Operations Center (JSOC), a first-of-its-kind hub for cyber-threat detection and incident response. Formed by Hochul in February, JSOC will be critical to cyber-threat information sharing, linking New York State, New York City, local and regional governments, critical-infrastructure stakeholders, and federal partners.

Ahern previously served as first deputy director of New York City Cyber Command and later as acting chief information security officer, where he led the transformation of a small cyber unit into a vast agency with more than 100 departments and offices in its purview.

At the height of the pandemic, Ahern created New York City’s first ever cloud-based, zero trust security environment — described as a “massive undertaking” enabling Cyber Command to pivot to remote work while “still effectively defending” against cyber threats, per Hochul’s office.

Before beginning work in city government, he worked in financial services as a security engineer and cyber-threat researcher.

Ahern started his career as a U.S. Army officer after enlisting in the Army Reserves following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and eventually serving two, year-long tours in Afghanistan. He was promoted to several leadership roles and concluded his Army career as a company commander at the U.S. Army Cyber Brigade. While there, he oversaw the creation of a specialized cyberspace-operations organization.

His military decorations include the Bronze Star, the Meritorious Unit Commendation with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with 3 campaign stars, and the Knowlton Award.

Ahern currently serves as an adjunct associate professor at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs and a guest lecturer at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies.

Exhibit on first images from NASA’s Webb telescope coming to the MOST

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. — An exhibit of the first images from NASA’s James Webb space telescope will soon be on display at the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology (MOST) in Syracuse’s Armory Square. The exhibit will be available Saturday, July 23 from 9:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. It will include 3D printed models, frames and

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The exhibit will be available Saturday, July 23 from 9:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. It will include 3D printed models, frames and panels of images, space activities, and NASA giveaways, the MOST said. The in-person event will be free with museum admission and open to the public.

The science museum is among hundreds of sites nationwide acknowledging the release of the first images from the telescope.

“We are thrilled that the MOST is an official host site for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope community events celebrating Webb’s first stunning images,” Emily Stewart, senior director of education & curation at the MOST, said in a release. “As a STEM leader in the community, we hope to inspire and guide students through new topics in space and astronomy that may not otherwise have the opportunity to explore outside the MOST.”

STEM is short for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The MOST is located at 500 S. Franklin St. in Syracuse.

About the telescope

Webb is the “largest and most complex” space science telescope ever built, described as the “premier observatory of the next decade,” per the MOST release. The international mission, led by NASA in partnership with the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, launched on Dec. 25, 2021. After unfolding in space into its final form, Webb successfully arrived at its destination nearly 1 million miles from Earth and began preparing for science operations.

The observatory, which is designed to see the universe in the infrared, will “push the field of astronomy into a new era,” the MOST contended.

Webb will be able to study light from distant parts of the universe for the very first time — the first galaxies that formed over 13.5 billion years ago — and give us insight into how our universe formed. It will also peer into dusty stellar nurseries to explore distant worlds orbiting other stars, as well as observe objects in the solar system.

Zhang “excited” to begin work as new executive director of SyracuseCoE

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A longtime professor in Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) is the new executive director of the SyracuseCoE. Jianshun (Jensen) Zhang started in that role July 1. SyracuseCoE is short for Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems, which is located at 727 E. Washington St. in

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A longtime professor in Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) is the new executive director of the SyracuseCoE.

Jianshun (Jensen) Zhang started in that role July 1.

SyracuseCoE is short for Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems, which is located at 727 E. Washington St. in Syracuse.

Excited to lead SyracuseCoE

Zhang said he is particularly honored to have been asked to lead the operations of the SyracuseCoE because he’s someone who has been involved with the facility’s development since its inception. Zhang has also maintained a “keen interest” in the SyracuseCoE’s research activities through the years, Syracuse said.

“I’m quite excited at the opportunity to lead a center like this. It’s a unique platform where you can integrate research and product development along with the commercialization and licensing aspects of bringing applied research to industry. I’m also excited because there is a huge demand and a need for technology that can improve human health and combat climate change by reducing carbon emissions,” Zhang said. “There’s much more opportunity for research and product development in that arena now, as evidenced by an increase in requests for proposals we’ve seen from the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, as well as the increasing interest and significant funding supports from the relevant industries.”

Zhang’s goals for the SyracuseCoE include furthering the center’s engagement with faculty at Syracuse University; initiating and continuing partnerships with other universities; and expanding the center’s intersection with industry innovators and business partners.

He’d also like to raise the SyracuseCoE’s national and international profile and foster further collaboration with international researchers and companies. He is also interested in working more closely with startups to bring new ideas in active research applications to the marketplace.

Zhang announced

Ramesh Raina — interim VP in Syracuse University’s Office of Research — in late June announced Zhang’s appointment to the renewable three-year term. Zhang is leading research activity and operations at the downtown SyracuseCoE building and is serving as principal investigator for the New York State Department of Economic Development contract that provides the center’s annual operating funds, per the Syracuse University announcement.

Zhang assumes the role from Eric Schiff, who has served as SyracuseCoE interim executive director since May 2020. Schiff is also chair of the Department of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences.

A professor of physics at Syracuse since 1981, Schiff has led interdisciplinary research groups and collaborations with laboratories from other universities and private organizations the world over.

Zhang, who has more than 30 years of research experience in built environmental systems, also retains his position as a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and his role as one of three co-leaders of the university’s Energy and Environment research cluster and is its lead on the Heathy and Intelligent Built Environments subcluster. He will report to the university’s VP of research.

The SyracuseCoE works with more than 200 private companies, organizations, and academic institutions to create new products and services in indoor environmental quality, clean and renewable energy, and water-resource management, Syracuse said. Its research areas include systems that monitor and control comfortable air temperature, air quality, lighting, sound and water quality in built and urban environments, and innovative energy systems, including clean technologies and renewable-fuel sources.

Assessment center, testbed

Zhang also envisions developing a building-assessment center to educate students on how to assess building’s energy and environmental performance, make recommendations on what improvements can be made and how to make them and then quantify the energy savings and health impacts those changes would create.

Due to Schiff’s initiating the proposal for piloting such a center and the strong support from ECS, SyracuseCoE will be “well positioned” to compete for future funding opportunities in this area, Zhang contended.

Working with SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and other universities, Zhang also wants to guide the development of a testbed in Syracuse that would examine air quality in buildings and in urban microenvironments around buildings, Syracuse University said. Its focus would be on improving people’s health by reducing their exposures to both the indoor atmosphere of the buildings they frequent as well as the outdoor environment they experience on the street, he noted.

His areas of expertise include combined heat, air, moisture and pollutant simulations in buildings; material emissions; air filtration/purification; ventilation; indoor air quality and intelligent control of building environmental systems.

He has developed advanced experimental methods and apparatus, computer simulation models and environmental control technologies. He has authored or co-authored more than 200 technical papers and three standard methods for testing organic emissions from building materials and furnishings.

Zhang is a fellow of American Society for Heating, Refrigerating, and Airconditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and a member of the International Academy of Indoor Air Science (ISIAQ fellow). He also is currently serving as VP of IAQVEC (Indoor Air Quality, Ventilation and Energy Conservation) Association. He also served as president and chairman of the board of the International Association of Building Physics from 2018 to 2021.

Workshops expose students to careers in semiconductor sector

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ROME, N.Y. — NYDesign recently held two workshops, including one in Rome, designed to boost interest among college students in the semiconductor industry and hopefully inspire the next generation of chip designers. “This industry is relatively new as far as fundamentally important industries go,” says LaMar Hill, co-founder and executive director of NYDesign. In spite

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“This industry is relatively new as far as fundamentally important industries go,” says LaMar Hill, co-founder and executive director of NYDesign. In spite of its newness, “it affects almost everything we do in our daily lives,” he contends. Integrated circuits, commonly called chips, are in pretty much everything we do that uses electricity, he adds.

Recent headlines about shortages and supply chain issues, most notably affecting the automotive industry, have really highlighted the need for a robust presence of chip designers in the U.S.

New York is perfectly positioned to be home to those chip designers, Hill stipulates, with many semiconductor manufacturers and research facilities. Locally, Wolfspeed opened its silicon carbide Mohawk Valley Fab facility in April.

The vision, Hill says, is to foster a complete semiconductor ecosystem in New York from chip designers through to manufacturing, assembly, testing, and packaging.

NYDesign is working toward that vision by partnering with university and community colleges to guide students through the process of creating and designing chips.

To kick things off, the not-for-profit organization held two workshops in June. The June 28 workshop in Rome included students from Mohawk Valley Community College and Cornell University. A second workshop took place a day later in Troy with students from Hudson Valley Community College and several other institutions.

In partnership with Efabless, an open-source platform that enables students to design, fabricate, and verify their own chips, participants received direct experience in being a chip designer, Hill says.

“It stimulated a huge amount of interest from the students that participated,” he says of the workshops. NYDesign is already fielding requests for more of these events from other colleges. His hope is that some of the students that participated consider a career as a chip designer.

Currently, there are at least 20,000 open jobs in the U.S. for chip designers, Hill notes. “We need to graduate a lot more engineers,” he contends.

Kevin Owens, president/CEO of New York State Technology Enterprise Corporation (NYSTEC),

agrees. NYSTEC, along with the Rensselaer County Industrial Development Agency, helped support the workshops and the efforts of NYDesign.

There is definitely a gap in the design space in the semiconductor industry, Owens says. “We want to bring these jobs back to the U.S. and to New York.”

Headquartered in Griffiss Business and Technology Park in Rome, NYSTEC works to foster innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. Owens hopes the workshops inspire participating students to not only join the semiconductor industry but also to become entrepreneurs and industry leaders.

NYDesign focuses on growing New York’s capacity for innovation and disruption in the semiconductor industry. The organization says it seeks to democratize access across the state to the skills and tools necessary for creators to design, fabricate, and verify their own integrated circuits. The organization also serves as a resource to support public-private and academic partnerships geared toward innovation and commercialization projects that create growth in high-technology jobs.

CEO FOCUS: 14 Companies Advance in Semifinals of GENIUS NY

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GENIUS NY continues to be the benchmark accelerator program for companies developing innovations in the uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS), internet of things, and robotics industries. Over the past five years, the program has proven its ability to foster the growth and acceleration of startups in the UAS sector, with 26 GENIUS NY teams leveraging $15

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GENIUS NY continues to be the benchmark accelerator program for companies developing innovations in the uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS), internet of things, and robotics industries.

Over the past five years, the program has proven its ability to foster the growth and acceleration of startups in the UAS sector, with 26 GENIUS NY teams leveraging $15 million in state investments to raise more than $100 million in follow-on funding, while creating more than 70 jobs in upstate New York. The program also supports the growth of the region’s larger UAS ecosystem, particularly as Central New York seeks federal investments to advance emerging “smart systems” opportunities in the region.

The program’s impact and influence are also evidenced in the more than 200 highly competitive applicants, representing more than 50 countries, received for the sixth round. Recently, 14 teams were named semifinalists, including nine international teams hailing from Germany, Israel, Poland, the Netherlands and United Kingdom; three teams are from New York state.

These 14 semifinalists will now present their technologies and business plans to a panel of executive advisers who will evaluate their ability to contribute to the region’s UAS ecosystem; scale and be successful; as well as the diversity of their technology focus and team makeup. They must also demonstrate a commitment to staying and growing in the Central New York area. Five finalists will be announced later this month and will arrive in Central New York in August to compete for $3 million in investments at Finals Night, in November.

While only five finalists will advance to participate in GENIUS NY’s sixth round, we will also work to support the growth of other teams, connecting them to opportunities at the Tech Garden and in Central New York.

Our members have played an important role in supporting GENIUS NY teams to date, helping connect them to partnerships and business services. We look forward to facilitating those relationships in the coming months.

You can learn more about the semifinalists at https://www.centerstateceo.com/news-events/14-semi-finalists-announced-genius-ny-sixth-round. Plus, save the date for two popular annual events — Sept. 14 Business After Hours Presenting GENIUS NY Winners and Nov. 3 GENIUS NY Pitch Finals — where you can directly connect with the finalists. To learn more, contact Kara Jones, director of GENIUS NY, at kjones@centerstateceo.com.

Robert M. Simpson is president and CEO of CenterState CEO, the primary economic-development organization for Central New York. This article is drawn and edited from the “CEO Focus” email newsletter that the organization sent to members on July 7.

Annual cybersecurity conference in Albany outlined threats, prevention methods

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ALBANY, N.Y. — New York State’s annual Cybersecurity Conference has provided the state Board of Elections a “greater insight” into emerging technology and trends so it can continue to keep statewide elections infrastructure secure. That’s according to Kristen Zebrowski Stavisky, co-executive director of the New York State Board of Elections, who commented in a news

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That’s according to Kristen Zebrowski Stavisky, co-executive director of the New York State Board of Elections, who commented in a news release on the event’s opening day in June.

“Education and information sharing by all levels of government and academia has increased our awareness of potential cyber threats and helped us to enhance our cyber risk remediation planning,” Zebrowski Stavisky said.

More than 1,000 cybersecurity professionals from state and local government, academia, and the private sector gathered in Albany for the 24th annual Cybersecurity Conference.

The two-day event, held June 7-8 at the Empire State Plaza, allowed attendees to discuss emerging developments in the industry and best practices designed to improve the security of New York State, the office of Gov. Kathy Hochul said.

The New York State Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) hosts the annual conference, in partnership with the University at Albany School of Business and the New York State Forum, Inc.

“In order to protect all New Yorkers, cybersecurity has to be the highest priority for IT professionals and users alike,” Mario Musolino, executive director of the New York State Forum, Inc., said. “The widespread use of virtual meetings and hybrid workplaces has added to the challenges we all face. It is critical that we understand the level of threat and make sure that we are protecting our valuable assets. This conference is a unique opportunity to learn from each other regardless of our level of expertise.”

Hochul earlier this year announced the creation of a Joint Security Operations Center in Brooklyn. It will serve as the nerve center for joint local, state and federal cyber efforts, including data collection, response efforts and information sharing.

The current state budget also includes $61.9 million for cybersecurity, “doubling the previous investment,” Hochul’s office said.

The funding will help pay for “critical” protections, including the expansion of the state’s cyber Red Team program to provide additional penetration testing, an expanded phishing-exercise program, vulnerability scanning, and additional cyber-incident response services.

The investments “help ensure” that if one part of the network is attacked, the state can isolate and protect the rest of the system, Hochul’s office said.

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