Pataki makes his first visit to campus
Governor attends grand opening of Center for Computational Research

By MARA McGINNIS
Reporter Assistant Editor

Gov. George E. Pataki made his first visit to campus Tuesday for the grand opening of the Center for Computational Research (CCR), where he spoke to members of the university community and toured the world-class facility that features more than $7 million in state-of-the-art computer equipment.

The governor was greeted in Norton Hall by more than 100 chanting faculty, staff and students, who loudly protested past tuition increases and this year's drastic SUNY budget cuts, as well as UB-specific actions like the hold on new library purchases and an expanded athletics program.

The grand-opening was an "by-invitation-only" event attended by politicians, local business leaders, researchers and members of the university community. Protesters standing outside Woldman Theatre, where Pataki spoke at CCR's opening ceremonies, at one point chanted, "Let us in," to no avail.

Sen. Mary Lou Rath who introduced Pataki, called the opening of the supercomputing center a "milestone in Western New York's revival and a return to cutting-edge technology."

"Let me first thank the students for their warm welcome," Pataki said about the protesters, whose chants in the hallway outside the theater remained audible throughout the program. "I was at Columbia in the late '60s, and I'll tell you (the UB students) are a lot more polite and restrained than the students I went to school with back then."

On a more serious note, Pataki said he didn't think the protesting students appreciate the efforts of his administration, citing the state's recent success in raising the tuition-assistance maximum award to $4,100 and the creation of a college-choice program that offers parents tax-free savings plans for their children.

"We have invested more than $2 billion into our state university system to do things like what we are celebrating today," he added. "Of that investment, $100 million is going right here to UB because we understand that our next generation has to be well-educated and prepared for the 21st century.

"I am proud that at our state university system, not only is our enrollment up, but our test scores are up because we are attracting more and better-quality students."

Pataki said that the CCR - one of the nation's leading supercomputing centers - will change dramatically "not just the way UB performs and what the faculty and students are allowed to do, but also will change the image of UB and Western New York and allow us to continue to use these great academic resources to help partner with the private sector and nonprofit groups."

Pataki acknowledged that several corporations and research institutions are interested in working with CCR.

"We're proud that we're not just trying to educate a brilliant generation of computer-literate and computer-advanced students at UB; we're going to be working to create more jobs and more opportunities in Western New York and New York State," added Pataki.

President William R. Greiner said it was "an honor, a privilege and a pleasure to have the governor of the State of New York appearing in Western New York, especially on our campus."

Greiner referred to the governor's capital investment program as "far-reaching and visionary," and vital to helping UB achieve its goals.

"The way we see ourselves managing to move the institution forward is to take whatever it is the people of the State of New York make available to us, and build on that through this kind of partnership activity." He noted that New York State has "provided generously for both of our campuses over the last 30 years"

Greiner recognized representatives from Silicon Graphics, Inc.; Sun Microsystems, and IBM for their fundamental support in helping to create the CCR. IBM contributed approximately $1.2 million in computer equipment to the center, while Sun Microsystems contributed $300,000 on computer equipment. Silicon Graphics also made a substantial computer-equipment grant.

Russ Miller, director of CCR and professor of computer science and engineering, presented the governor with a special honorary "key" to the center, which, he explained, is not really a key at all, but rather a ring with a built-in Java micro-processor.

"These are exciting times at UB right now," said Miller. "The facilities available in the center position UB to significantly enhance research and education in the region. The three supercomputers that we have can be used, not only to train the scientists and engineers of tomorrow, but to serve as a catalyst for economic development in Western New York."

According to Miller, the center's work focuses primarily on three areas: computational chemistry, part of which involves developing drugs for the pharmaceutical industry; virtual-reality design to help better design factories, automobiles and aircraft, and combustion to aid in the design of aircraft engines and efficient furnaces.

Miller noted that the center has begun to develop regional partnerships with Innovative Business Communications, Praxair, Occidental Chemical, M&T Bank, Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute and Eastman Kodak, and added that the center already has developed national relationships with Oak Ridge National Labs and Oregon National Labs.

Pataki was running behind schedule and did not have the time after the remarks to tour the center as extensively as planned. But he told spectators that he "really wanted to at least get to see (the center)" and, after using his special Java ring "key" to enter, was able to spend a few minutes in the facility, where he told CCR staff that he was "very impressed."

In an interview after the opening, Greiner stressed how valuable an opportunity it was for UB to have the governor visit campus to see the results of what the university was able to do by taking an initial, small investment and leveraging it into an asset like CCR.

"Seeing is believing," Greiner emphasized. "It is important that the governor was able to actually see what we were able to do in order to realize the potential that is here."

Richard Hirsh, deputy division director of the Division of Advanced Computational Infrastructure and Research at the National Science Foundation, said at the opening that CCR is in line with three major areas that the NSF will concentrate on in the new millennium: information technology, biocomplexity and education.

"I'm proud to say that the genesis of this entire center was an award from the Major Research Instrumentation Program," said Hirsh, referring to the NSF grant of $300,000 to the center, one of many gifts that have made the center possible.

"Computation has joined the more traditional means of scientific investigation - theory and experiment - as a third modality for conducting science. In fact, computation is an interesting combination of both theory and experiment, and complements them both," said Hirsh. "It brings to expertise what is applicable to almost any area, not just one specific discipline."

While Tuesday's visit was Pataki's first to campus, it was not the first trip to UB that the governor had planned. He was scheduled to speak at UB Aug. 24, 1998, to announce that the university would receive $105 million in state capital funding over the next five years. However, inclement weather in Albany prevented the trip, and Pataki spoke via a live telecast.

In fact, poor weather slightly delayed the governor's arrival to campus Tuesday.