New lab at college brings high-tech opportunities
STONE RIDGE, N.Y. » Mechatronics and 3-D printing are among the features of the newly dedicated Pfeiffer Technology & Innovation Lab at SUNY Ulster.
Officials of the two-year college said more than $1 million went into the renovation and upgrade project, spanning five separate laboratories within Jacob Hardenburgh Hall.
“It’s exciting to think about the young minds that are going to be shaped, and the lives that are going to be changed, because the individuals are going to have skill sets that can make it in the world today, and help shape the future for each and every one of us,” County Executive Michael Hein said at a dedication ceremony Thursday
“I feel like that guy from the Hair Club for Men. Not only am I here as a public official, but also as a parent,” Hein said, laughing, noting that his son, Mickey, is a SUNY Ulster student.
The new facility features an electrical engineering lab and programmable logic controller lab, a mechatronics and mechanical engineering lab, a CAD SOLIDWORKS lab and a 3-D printing and modeling lab. A new technology-equipped classroom adjoins the mechatronics and mechanical engineering labs so that lectures and hands-on learning are integrated.
The new lab facilities are designed to train a future generation of hightech workers for New York’s economy.
State Sen. John Bonacic said STEM — science, technology, engineering and math education — is the way of the future.
“The winners today, from this Pfeiffer Lab, will be the students, who will be empowered with knowledge to compete in a global economy and form a marriage between education and the manufacturing sector,” said Bonacic, RMount Hope.
“We really live eternally when we give,” said Darlene Pfeiffer, vice president of the Ulster County Community College Foundation and a private donor to the lab that bears
her name. The money she put up helped leverage additional funding to bring the upgrade to fruition. “I feel very strongly in giving to young people, because they then go on, far after we are gone,” she said.
“The purpose is to promote
manufacturing competitiveness; that’s the bottom line for all of us, for economic prosperity,” said William Durgin, provost of the SUNY Polytechnic Institute.
Funding for SUNY Ulster the project also came from SUNY Manufacturing Alliance for Research & Technology Transfer, through the Center for Advanced Global Manufacturing.