SBU Projects to Get Millions in State Economic Development Funds

As part of a $101.6 million economic development package awarded by the state to the Long Island Regional Council, several projects involving will get millions in funding, the state announced Thursday.

The funds came through Gov. Andrew Cuomo's initiative to have regional economic development groups compete for $200 million in state funding.

According to a state release, the goal of the economic development competition is "to support a sustainable, innovative and inter-connected job-generating economy that also redevelops areas suffering from disinvestment and mobilizes the entire region for years to come."

The Long Island Regional Council's award will give $5 million to Stony Brook University's joint program with Brookhaven National Laboratory, the Smarter Electric Grid 3 project. This project aims to explore lower power costs for the region, as well as increase research capacity and training for students in high-tech programs at the University. As part of the Smarter Electric Grid 3 project, the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center (AERTC) at Stony Brook will become a smart grid test and validation facility.

The council's award will also give $2 million to the EngINE project, a joint initiative between Stony Brook and Hofstra University to boost the number of engineering graduates.

Stony Brook is also the recipient of close to $400,000 slated to provide assistance in boosting science and technology education in underserved parts of Long Island as well as certificate training programs aimed at transitional professionals.

Stony Brook president Samuel L. Stanley Jr. called it "a tremendous day for Long Island." He said in a statement that it supports the Long Island pipeline of excellence in workforce education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and that the state's "relatively small dollar investment" will greatly impact the region.

"I believe it was helpful that our plan contains a number of projects where the funding is highly catalytic. ... Stony Brook is poised and excited to fulfill the initiatives in which we are involved," Stanley said.