After years of work and millions of dollars, Binghamton University celebrated the dedication of the ITC Center of Excellence with local elected officials.
Wednesday’s ceremony featured President Harvey Stenger and Vice President for Research Bahgat Sammakia, as well as local politicians state Sen. Thomas Libous and Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo.
The $30 million Center of Excellence, which is now officially open to students and researchers, is 114,000 square feet and will become home to the Small Scale Systems Integration and Packaging Center (S3IP) and the Northeastern Center for Chemical Energy Storage (NECCES).
“It builds out of our University’s historical strength in research, especially with our relationship with IBM,” Stenger said. “In many ways, this is perhaps the seedling that fell off the IBM tree as it was leaving town. And it’s growing back into the giant oak that you’d expect.”
The building’s entrance features plaques dedicated to Libous and Lupardo, in honor of their work in gaining state funding for the project.
“Our tiny little Southern Tier gets forgotten in Albany a lot of the time,” Stenger said. “And [Libous and Lupardo] were the ones who brought the $30 million in funding to make this happen.”
Lupardo, an ‘83 alumna and former education professor at BU, said the path to funding was difficult, but worthwhile.
“It was heartwarming,” Lupardo said. “It was good to see an accomplishment from beginning-to-end. It took a lot of persistence and I’m very pleased and very proud.”
Libous and Lupardo said they had high hopes for the Center of Excellence’s impact on the local economy. According to Stenger, the construction process alone created over 180 local jobs.
“The Center of Excellence will provide for the future of not only this community, but the state and this country,” Libous said.
Lupardo agreed, saying the impact of the Center of Excellence was not limited to the economy of the community, but also in the steps it will take in research.
“This University is based on inquiry, designing the products that will improve our lives,” Lupardo said. “I don’t think the community fully appreciates that. It’s my goal to make sure that they appreciate how important those innovations will be.”
BU’s resident architect William Hall was also praised for the design of the building, which is LEED-certified and has an environmentally friendly cooling system that utilizes rainwater.
“I described this building as the coolest building I’ve ever been in,” Hall said. “Not because it’s cool ‘hip,’ but the way it is cooled.”
Sammakia heralded the Center of Excellence as a means to facilitate new ideas and ways of thinking about research.
“The goal of building this building was not just to put up the most beautiful building on campus, but about research that will be conducted in this building,” Sammakia said. “Meaningful, constructive research, the kind that will change the way people live their lives.”