7/24/2012 9:09:00 AM

Daily Gazette: Partners in nanotech

Daily Gazette

Partnerships are all the rage today, a way to do more at a time when needs are high and resources are scarce. And as partnerships go, they don’t get any better than the one announced last week that will bring nanotechnology’s benefits, both current and future, to downtown Albany.

As anyone who has driven past Fuller Road on I-90 recently knows, the UAlbany College of Nanoscale Science and Technology (nanoscience involves the use of very small materials) is expanding. That’s good for the Capital Region as a whole, but the school’s location far from downtown limits its benefits to the city of Albany.

This is about to change. The NanoCollege, which has received generous state funding, will partner with two other entities — one a private company, the other a not-for-profit agency — to improve the vitality of downtown, its infrastructure, and its residents’ lives.

One of those partners is the Colonie-based engineering firm CHA, more commonly known as Clough Harbour & Associates. Both will lease space in the beautiful old Union Station, which has been vacant the last two years. CHA will move its headquarters and 30 of its top executives there, while the NanoCollege will hold courses and training programs there for students from the inner city.

Read more