MEMORANDUM TO THE MARIST COLLEGE COMMUNITY

As we begin the academic year, I would like to share some exciting news.  Marist College has been officially designated a College Applied Research and Technology Center (CART) by New York State.  The purpose of the Center at Marist will be to conduct research in the area of collaborative and on-demand computing.  This Center will have a tremendous impact on Marist for at least the next five years and be of great benefit to our students, faculty, and the greater community.

            Marist will receive $500,000 this year and a total of $2.5 million over the five-year life of the grant.  The application process was extremely competitive, with only two grants made in the entire state this year.  Marist received the larger award.

            The grant will be used to aid economic and job development initiatives in the Hudson River Valley and throughout New York State.  It will also encourage applied research collaboration and innovation with industry, promote workforce development, and better leverage State funds with investments from the Federal government,industry, foundations and not-for-profit economic development organizations.

            Our new Center will help spur the economic growth of distributed systems technology providers by leveraging Marist's large-scale enterprise system and will create secure collaborative and on-demand computing environments.  The developed environments will allow businesses to better share technology resources and request these resources on an as-needed basis.  Companies participating should realize significant cost savings and increased productivity.  This grant recognizes the outstanding faculty in our School of Computer Science and Mathematics, our top-flight technology platform, and our leadership in applied research, particularly in the field of technology.

            This Center is but the latest example of Marist's strategic initiative to employ technology to drive collaboration between Marist and off-campus constituencies.  Over the years, Marist has forged unique collaborations with IBM, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library, the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area, and the State and Federal governments, among others, to provide educational opportunities for our students, and, in the Marist tradition of service, allow our faculty,staff, and students to use their time and talents to enhance the quality of life in the greater community   regionally, nationally, and even internationally.

            The Center will provide opportunities for 16 undergraduate and graduate computer science students to take skills learned in the classroom and apply them to real businesses and government agencies to better use technology and realize economic savings.  Opportunities such as this, as well as those afforded by an IBM Shared University Research Grant last year and other e-business ventures with which Marist is involved, give our students a distinct advantage in applying for jobs in the workforce of the 21st century.

            There are many members of the Marist community who deserve our thanks and praise for their work in bringing this distinction to Marist.  I would like to salute the team that developed this proposal:  Roger Norton, dean of the School of Computer Science and Mathematics, and Barbara McMullen, director of the Institute for Data Center Professionals at Marist College, for their leadership in engineering the program's concept and providing the vision for this Center; Shaileen Kopec, vice president for college advancement, Donna Berger, academic grants coordinator, Kate Donham, senior grants officer, and Lola Saya, assistant controller/post award administrator, for managing the development of a competitive and complex proposal; and Howard Baker, IBM's project manager for the Marist/IBM Joint Study, for providing the technical expertise to frame the grant.  I also want to thank trustees Ross Mauri, Chris McCann, and Tim Tenney for setting the technical direction and providing assistance in structuring the grant.

           I would also like to thank Governor George Pataki, State Senator Steve Saland and NYSTAR Executive Director Russell Bessette for their continued support of Marist College and their recognition of the role Marist will continue to play in the economic growth and job creation initiatives in our state.

          Other grant applications for additional technology initiatives are currently under review by a number of agencies and, due to the success of this and other proposals over the years, I am confident we will be sharing more good news in the months ahead.  Again, congratulations and thanks to all who made this concept a reality.

Dennis J. Murray
President
Marist College
Phone: (845) 575-3600
Fax: (845) 575-3337
E-mail:  Dennis.Murray@marist.edu