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Slaughter Says Rochester Deserves Photonics Grant

Eugene Kowaluk
/
University of Rochester

Congresswoman Louise Slaughter announced that a Rochester-based consortium is a finalist in a nation-wide photonics grant competition. The $110 million federal dollars, matched with non-federal grants, would go toward establishing an Integrated Photonics Manufacturing Institute.

Slaughter says the group, headed by RIT, University of Rochester, and SUNY Polytechnic Institute is a shoo-in for the money because of Rochester's history of success in manufacturing and engineering.

"We already have the edge on [the competition]. We've had the edge on them for a couple generations I think, going back to Kodak, Bausch and Lomb, Xerox, all those other companies. What we have here is expertise that no other community can put together."

Slaughter, a microbiologist by training, is a big proponent of photonic research.

"Let me tell you a little bit about what photonics is. Maybe you haven't heard of it, but it effects your life and your work every day. It's the science and application of light."

Photonic technology is used for things like lasers, fiber optic cable, and night vision cameras. But that's just the beginning.

Rob Clark is the Senior Vice President for Research at U of R. He says photonic technology is just starting to be used in microchips that go into all of our digital devices.

"We've been building chips that go into each and every piece of hardware that you have, and those chips now will basically integrate photonics, which means the transmission of light. We use electrons and wires now when we think about electronics. In optics, in photonics, you transmit photons."

People want faster communications, and our more traditional electronics just aren't cutting it anymore. Electrons are fat, sluggish molecules compared to photons, which move at the speed of light. Growing demand for this technology is creating a growing market for photonics research and development. 

Credit J. Adam Fenster / University of Rochester
/
University of Rochester

Final applications for the grant money are due in March, and a winner is expected to be chosen in June. Slaughter says this grant money wouldn't just great for the scientific community, but it would continue to revitalize local industry, in keeping with a tradition of manufacturing strength in the area.

"We've got great possibilities here, and I'm constantly in awe when I look up at what's happening up at the Eastman Business Park, at the founders and all the people who went before us -- they have really left us a legacy."

Veronica Volk is a senior editor and producer for WXXI News.
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