UB is the lead institution in the program, a consortium that also includes Syracuse University, University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology.

Under the program, faculty, graduate and advanced undergraduate students from these universities in engineering and related fields will help selected manufacturers, particularly those with existing or prospective export markets, incorporate the latest technology into their products.

Companies receiving grants include Amherst Systems of Williamsville, awarded $96,800 to conduct the redesign of a Foveal Vision Sensor chip, with assistance from UB faculty and students; CNC Systems, Inc. of Rochester, awarded $50,000 to develop new control and interface software for the company's optical grinder, with assistance from University of Rochester faculty and students; Clark Instrumentation/Clark MXR, Inc. of Rochester, awarded $50,131 to increase the flexibility of one of the company's laser products for ultrafast optics research, with assistance from faculty and students from the University of Rochester's Institute of Optics.

Five other companies will also receive grants under the first round of funding.

GRIT is seeking applications from other manufacturing companies in the region that fit specific criteria to apply for grants in the program's second round of funding. Individual grants are expected to be in the $50,000-$100,000 range. Application deadline is Feb. 29. Representatives of interested companies are invited to attend an information session about GRIT. In Buffalo, the session will be held Feb. 6, from 7:30-9 a.m. in the University Inn and Conference Center, 2401 North Forest Road, Amherst.

Created as a demonstration project funded by the Small Business Administration upon the initiative of Congressman John J. LaFalce, GRIT is expected to serve as a model for small-business product development and job creation and preservation. It is the only program of its kind in the U.S.

To survive in intense international compe- tition, small businesses must continuously develop and improve their products or risk losing not only export opportunities, but domestic markets, and, ultimately, American jobs. But for most small firms, the cost of maintaining research-and-development operations in-house is prohibitive. GRIT will help those firms improve their current products, as well as develop new ones.

Program director is George Lee, director of the National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research at UB, who initiated the project in 1994 while he was dean of the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Mark Karwan, interim dean of the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; Duncan T. Moore, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University of Rochester; Paul E. Petersen, Dean of the College of Engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology, and Edward A. Bogucz, interim dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Syracuse University, are coordinating the program in their regions

During the course of the two-year project, which began last fall, product-improvement projects will be conducted by the consortium, with the assistance of The Center for Industrial Effectiveness at UB.

Projects will involve, but not be limited to, product-focused, multidisciplinary teams of faculty-led graduate students and advanced undergraduates.

Companies' eligibility for a grant will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

They must be a manufacturer with no more than 500 employees, located in Allegany, Cattaraugus, Cayuga, Chautauqua, Cortland, Erie, Genesee, Herkimer, Livingston, Madison, Monroe, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga, Ontario, Orleans, Oswego, Seneca, Wayne or Wyoming counties.

They must have an existing, successful product that requires technological updating, including redesign and/or process improvements. The product must have a significant share of the market and have significant international competition.

It must account for a substantial proportion of total company business. The project must be able to be completed in a year or less.

The company must be financially stable and willing to share in project costs, financially and with the support of technical staff.

Proposals also will be judged on the basis of the match of university expertise to product technologies and on overall economic benefit and importance to the region.

For more information, companies should contact The Center for Industrial Effectiveness at 636-2568.