SCHUMER, GILLIBRAND ANNOUNCE NEARLY $27 MILLION IN FEDERAL FUNDS FOR NEW RESEARCH CENTER AND TECH STARTUP PROJECT AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Federal Investments Will Fund Critical Projects Focused On Scientific Innovation and High-Tech Business Start-Ups
U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand today announced $26,849,149 in federal funding for two major projects at Cornell University. The funding was allocated through two grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The first grant will award $22,649,149 to Cornell to fund the creation of its new Center for Bright Beams (CBB), an interdisciplinary collaboration with other educational institutions, companies, and national laboratories. The center will focus on increasing the intensity of charged particle beams and decreasing the both the size and cost of key accelerator technologies. These critical efforts will promote significant advances in fields ranging from physics to chemistry and biology by enhancing the accelerators that are essential to research in these fields. This investment will help open the door to the next generation of scientific research, and CBB’s industrial partners will incorporate the Center’s findings into applications ranging from improved circuit manufacturing to new pharmaceuticals. The second grant will provide Cornell with $4,200,000 in order to fund a business alliance aimed at increasing the success rate of technology startups at colleges and universities across New York State and the Northeast. This alliance for entrepreneurial innovation will be called the I-Corps Node and Cornell will serve as the lead institution while also partnering with the University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).
“Cornell University is home to world-class scientific research and unparalleled resources for emerging tech companies making it a great place to invest these federal funds,” said Senator Schumer. “First, these funds will allow the new Center for Bright Beams to become a potential game changer for Upstate New York and the nation, fueling essential research and innovations in the fields of math and science. Second, by partnering with the University of Rochester and RIT on the new I-Corps Node entrepreneurial business alliance, Cornell will become a tour de force for supporting new start-ups and tech jobs throughout Upstate New York.”
“Cornell University is one of the most innovative institutions in the country and an ideal place for this significant federal investment, which will give Cornell the tools to continue its groundbreaking advanced research.” said Senator Gillibrand. “I will continue to support more federal funding for scientific research at our colleges and universities, so that more young people can be inspired to do research, test their ideas, and help make our communities better places to live.”
“This announcement is wonderful news, as this funding will allow Cornell to take the lead in creating the Center for Bright Beams, a new science and tech center that will work to deepen our understanding of particle beams. The funding will help us and our partners increase beam brightness and decrease the size and cost of particle beam technologies, and open the door to the next generation of scientific discoveries across many different fields. I thank National Science Foundation for their support of this and other vitally important scientific research, and Senators Schumer and Gillibrand for their strong support of science and the National Science Foundation,” said J. Rithcie Patterson, Professor of Physics and Director of Cornell Laboratory for Accelerator-based Sciences and Educations (CLASSE).
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 48,000 competitive proposals for funding and makes about 12,000 new funding awards. NSF also awards about $626 million in professional and service contracts yearly.
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