The Remarks Of Speaker Sheldon Silver

Center For Bioscience Education And Training (CBET) Ceremonial Ribbon Cutting, Reception & Open House

The Rochester Institute Of Technology
Thursday, April 26, 2007

Speaker Silver addresses the Rochester Institute of Technology faculty and students who attended the official opening of the campus’s Center of Biology Education and Technology (CBET) building. The Assembly provided $4 million of state funds towards the project as part of its effort to prepare New Yorkers for the world’s emerging bioscience career opportunities.

It's great to back in Rochester … and to be here on the campus of our prestigious Rochester Institute of Technology.

President Simone. Director Merrill. Elected Leaders. Zeke Duda. Students and Faculty of R.I.T.

My congratulations to the entire R.I.T. family on the completion of "C-BET." Thank you, President Simone for inviting me to participate in this ceremonial ribbon cutting and open house.

I'll keep my remarks brief, because the leaders who truly deserve your recognition are the members of your Rochester-area Legislative Delegation.

• Assembly Member Joe Morelle, Chair of the Assembly Committee on Tourism, Arts and Sports Development. [Over the years, Joe has also been a strong advocate for R.I.T.'s Centers for Integrated Manufacturing and Remanufacturing.]
• Assembly Member Susan John, the Chair of the Assembly's Labor Committee [and a strong advocate in her own right, for biomedical research and job training here at R.I.T. as well as at the University of Rochester].
• Assembly Member David Koon, the Chair of the Legislative Commission on Rural Resources. [David is a former Bausch and Lomb industrial engineer and a leading voice for higher education and educational technology here in Rochester and throughout the State of New York.]
• Assembly Member David Gantt, the Dean of the Rochester Assembly Delegation, who is not here with us today.
• And last but not least, our distinguished colleague - Senator Jim Alesi - who is the Chair of the Senate's Committee on Commerce, Economic Development and Small Business.

(From Left) Speaker Silver is joined by Assembly members Susan John and Joseph Morelle and RIT President Dr. Albert Simone for a tour of the CBET Building, a 35,000 square foot state-of-the-art building where students seeking bioscience careers are prepared for jobs in the health care field.

Douglas Merrill, director of RIT’s Center for Bioscience Education and Technology shows Silver some of the sophisticated medical diagnostic sonography (ultrasound) equipment being used by students taking courses in the CBET building.

They deserve the praise and recognition.

For as long as I have been Speaker, the Assembly Majority has acted upon and carried out a simple and common-sense strategy for rebuilding and reinvigorating the Rochester economy … and ALL of the economies that comprise Upstate New York.

(From Left) Morelle, Dr. Simone, Silver and John, took part in the CBET building’s ribbon cutting ceremony. Not only did they cut the orange ribbon, embossed with the symbol for DNA structures, to mark the facility’s official opening, but also to symbolize the cutting edge scientific research taking place on RIT’s campus.

TWO: Identify emerging technologies and invest in the infrastructure needed to nurture innovation in those technologies.

THREE: Forge university/industry/government partnerships to transform those innovations into New York State businesses and New York State jobs.

FOUR: Train, train, train … the workforce of the future, so that this State will ALWAYS be able to compete in the global economy.

That is why we created the RESTORE NEW YORK program … to support this process … and to establish cutting-edge, high-tech institutions, such as C-BET.

We have accomplished something very special here … and now we have taken another big step toward establishing a strong biomedical science corridor here in the Rochester area.

We look forward to the technology and the technicians that will come out of this new center.

Again, my congratulations … and I look forward to touring this new facility.