Energy center in the works

MELVILLE, NEW YORK - With $35 million in state money, Stony Brook University is planning to build a research center focusing on developing alternative energy sources that will enlist the support of industry and other educational institutions.

"There are about 20 to 25 companies who have expressed very strong interest in working with us," said Yacov Shamesh, Stony Brook's vice president for economic development and dean of its College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, listing among them Brookhaven National Laboratory and energy-related companies such as KeySpan Corp.

Shamesh said the university will soon begin design work on the center and anticipates breaking ground within a year. The facility will be located on the former Gyrodyne property adjacent to campus.

Meanwhile, KeySpan has committed to providing a research facility until Stony Brook can build the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center.

"Bob Catell [KeySpan's chairman and chief executive] has been supportive of this initiative and we're working on details to provide temporary accommodations [at its training facility in Islandia] for the center," said KeySpan spokeswoman Diana Parisi. She said it was a "good fit" for Long Island to have a center whose goal is to "develop new and reliable energy sources and transmission and distribution."

Shamesh praised support from the legislature and governor's office for the center. State senators Kenneth LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) and Dean Skelos (R-Long Beach) said in a statement that the "desired outcome" was cheaper, cleaner energy and they see the potential for an economic resurgence for the state.

Skelos predicted the center "will establish our region at the forefront of this burgeoning sector, enhance our energy supply and create exciting new career opportunities for local students." LaValle said "the center will take advantage of our assets by collaborating with the brightest and the best from the education, research and business communities ..."

Shamesh said Stony Brook has "letters of support" from several Island colleges to be part of the projects. "We already have multiple projects under way. We're not starting from scratch."

For instance, Shamesh pointed to a current collaboration between a Stony Brook researcher and a researcher at Farmingdale State University of New York taking place at the Brookhaven National Lab. W. Hubert Keen, Farmingdale State's provost, hailed Stony Brook's center, saying, "We anticipate being an important component in our two areas of expertise," highlighting Farmingdale's work at its Solar Energy Center, and in hydrogen fuel cells research.

"We provide a very important applied science and technology site for Stony Brook's projects, as well as other institutions," Keen said. "I think partnerships are key."