By KEVIN FRYLING
Reporter Staff Writer

The role of UB as a major player in bioinformatics and life sciences innovation in Western New York was one of the topics of discussion during a public hearing convened Oct. 11 by the New York State Commission on Higher Education.

President John B. Simpson is a member of the commission, which was appointed by Gov. Eliot Spitzer and charged with identifying ways to improve the quality of higher education in New York.

Among the more than 20 state, local and regional policy-makers, business leaders, educational administrators, teachers and students offering written and oral testimony to the commission, which met in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, were five speakers presenting on behalf of UB.

"When I heard of President Simpson's strategic plan, which includes significantly increasing the size of the university, its student body and its faculty, I was very impressed and excited," said Thomas Stewart, president of Gaymar Industries Inc. and chair of Life Science Industry Council of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership. "The university is one of our most prized job engines in our region. What is good for the university is good for the life sciences' business growth."

The life sciences are a linchpin in the region's long-term plans for economic recovery, Stewart added, noting that more than 125 life-sciences industries are operating in Buffalo Niagara.

"In order to support this growth, we need at least two things that are the natural products of universities and the university system," he said. "We require the new technology to commercialize that comes from a very strong research institution—technologies that are world-class and leading-edge—and we require human resources that only institutions of higher education can provide," including scientists, engineers, technicians, pharmacists, doctors, nurses and other professionals in the fields of allied health and business.

Russell Bessette, special advisor to the senior vice provost and the vice president for health sciences and former director of the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR), pointed to past and present success stories to illustrate both the technological innovation and economic impact of research universities such as UB.

Bessette told the commission that UB's New York State Center for Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences has supported the spin-off of medical technologies from three prominent life-sciences companies that grew from research at UB and the Center of Excellence: Kinex Pharmaceutical, which has received more than $4.6 million in financial investment; Empire Genomics, which employs nearly 60 people in high-paying technical jobs; and SmartPill Corporation, which has garnered nationwide interest for its noninvasive approach to medical diagnostics. He also noted that university-industry collaborations in New York State have brought about breakthrough medical technologies in the past, including the development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the 1970s and 1980s by researchers at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Stony Brook University and a General Electric facility outside Albany.

Offering a faculty perspective, Alex Cartwright, vice provost for strategic initiatives and professor of electrical engineering, pointed out that the mission of public research universities differs from comprehensive and community colleges, and emphasized that significant start-up funds are needed to recruit the top-tier faculty required to compete with prestigious research institutions at the national level.

"At the University at Buffalo, to hire new faculty in any of the sciences, I could give you a very conservative number for start-up funds of about $350,000, just to get them started," he said, noting that start-up funds jump to $500,000 to $1 million in certain disciplines. Attracting senior faculty requires an even greater investment, he added, pointing to a colleague at the University of Virginia who recently garnered $5 million in start-up funds.

Other UB speakers urged the commission to increase access to public higher education and provide universities greater control over tuition policies.

"I would like to see this commission recommend structures and stable funding that would enable, or even require, use of partnerships between higher education and the K-12 sector," said Mary Gresham, dean of the Graduate School of Education, noting that finding solutions to failing school districts and unequal access to higher education requires "a mixture of intellectual resources found in research universities."

Aaron Krolikowski, a student in the UB Honors College, said middle-income families also are increasingly "feeling the crunch" of higher education expenses formerly experienced mostly by students from low-income and disadvantaged backgrounds.

"An effective option that should be explored is a system of predictable tuition increases so that those planning financially for college will not be left behind," he said. "A major aspect of unpredictable tuition increases is the fact that public campuses have no discretion over their own tuition policies. A combination of predictable tuition policies and institutional discretion will allow for an increase in the quality of facilities, libraries and need-based financial aid."

Also offering testimony before the commission were Robert Bennett, chancellor of the state Board of Regents; Jason Kramer, executive vice president of the New York State Higher Education Initiative; James Williams, superintendent of the Buffalo Public Schools; Muriel Howard, president of Buffalo State College; William Reuter, interim president of Erie Community College; Christopher Dahl, president of Geneseo State College; Dennis Hefner, president of Fredonia State College; Ron Rosati, provost of Alfred State College; Debra Colley, dean of the College of Education at Niagara University; and Debra Park, associate vice president for public relations at Canisius College.