UB research in information technology and environmental science got a big boost last week when Gov. George E. Pataki announced two peer-reviewed awards in these areas from the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research.

"These awards are further proof of how integral UB research is to the economic health of this region and this state," said Jaylan Turkkan, vice president for research. "During the next few years, in two sectors that are becoming increasingly vital both to our region and to society-information technology and environmental science-UB researchers will be making the discoveries that will lead not only to new jobs for our neighbors in Western New York, but to new solutions that will drive the global economy of the 21st century."

Under the $14 million "Information Technology Collaboratory" grant to the Rochester Institute of Technology, UB's Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics has been awarded $8 million to apply its expertise in photonics to next-generation IT systems.

In addition, UB researchers received $1.5 million in funding for environmental science projects as part of the $15.9 million NYSTAR grant to Syracuse University to develop a New York Environmental Quality Systems Center.

Under the direction of Paras Prasad, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemistry and executive director of the photonics institute, UB researchers will work toward developing materials and technologies that allow for major expansions of bandwidth and speed. These involve developing new IT components and materials, as well as novel methods of processing them.

New materials under investigation include composites of nanocrystals and polymers, holographic materials, and unique glass and polymer composites developed and patented at the institute that exhibit extremely fast optical switching capabilities-key to improving speed in IT systems.

The funding also will be directed toward creating what could be the world's first photonic chip, an advance that would overcome the inefficiencies and poor integration now seen in IT components that combine semiconductor devices with optical fibers.

A key strategy involves taking advantage of cutting-edge work on semiconductor devices being done at UB's Center for Advanced Photonics and Electronic Materials (CAPEM). Joint areas of investigation include opto-electronic devices and photonic-circuit design based on semiconductor heterostructures, as well as spintronic and spin-photonic materials and devices, which are based on the spin of electrons.

In addition to Prasad, other UB researchers involved in the effort include Bruce McCombe and Hong Luo, Physics; Alexander Cartwright and Pao-Lo Liu, Electrical Engineering, and Cemal Basaran, Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering.

As part of the separate NYSTAR grant to Syracuse, Robert Baier, UB professor of oral diagnostic sciences, will conduct environmental research on urban ecosystems, and George Lopos, dean of Millard Fillmore College, will receive funding for state-of-the-art IT equipment to facilitate communications among the 12 institutions participating in this center.

UB's portion of the project includes laboratory and field research equipment for investigators from the UB departments of Oral Diagnostic Sciences and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, as well as the Industry/University Center for Biosurfaces and the Calspan-UB Research Center.