New York State is investing big in SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Oneida County.
Gov. Kathy Hochul recently announced $44 million in state dollars will expand STEM and health sciences programs at the school. Hochul said this is all part of the advancement of high-tech business in central New York and the Mohawk Valley.
"There are going to be opportunities here as we lean into semi-conductor technologies and innovation and the supply chain to help with the 50,000 jobs down the road," Hochul said. "But that is on top of what we're doing at Wolfspeed and on top of what we're doing at GlobalFoundries, We have the foundation here already. Other states are envious of what we're doing here in New York.”
Specifically, the state investment will fund the expansion of the Health Science Wing, Update Nursing Labs, and crate a semiconductor processing lab and robotics and advanced manufacturing lab.
Hochul notes the unemployment rate in Utica is 3.3% — not the best fit for expanding health care and tech industries.
"But if you're an employer trying to find someone to fill a job for you, whether it's at a hospital or its what we're doing here at Wolf's Speed, you need to have people to fill those jobs," Hochul said. "And Utica has really leaned into it."
The 44 million is coming from the SUNY capital line in the recently enacted state budget. These funds are on top of $72 million in renovations already started on the SUNY Poly campus. Hochul says with Micron coming to Central New York, and expansion at Wolfspeed and GlobalFoundries, making SUNY Poly into a premier institution has to be fast-tracked.
"We are very anxious to get this moving as soon as possible. I mean, we've gone to bid, you start acquiring the material, you start getting contracts in place," Hochul said. "But as everyone knows anything I touch, I say I want it done yesterday. So this region needs to be poised to be able to capture all the new job opportunities and to educate the young people who will be working in those jobs."
