Old Westbury, NY – Government and corporate officials joined the NYIT community at the opening of Nassau County's first and only "class 10,000 clean room" at NYIT-Old Westbury's campus earlier this week.

"We are here to contribute to advances in electronics, photonics, communications, medicine, and many other fields," said NYIT President Edward Guiliano, Ph.D., at the ribbon-cutting event. "We are here living NYIT's DNA vision of performing applied research for the betterment of society."

Clean rooms are classified according to the number and size of particles permitted per volume of air. These particles are measured in microns: one micron equals one millionth of a meter—smaller than a living cell. NYIT's class 10,000 clean room will enable students, faculty members, and industry researchers to perform experiments in an atmosphere that allows only 10,000 particles (half a micron or larger) per cubic foot of air. In comparison, typical office building air contains 500,000 to 1,000,000 such particles per cubic foot of air.

NYIT's clean room houses a sputtering machine and microscopy tools that allow researchers to nano-engineer unique composite materials and create microchips, sensors, and implantable and wearable medical devices. The facility is part of NYIT School of Engineering and Computing Sciences' materials science and microscopy lab. Faculty scientists and engineers will use the space to create, test, simulate, and characterize materials and composites, and give students invaluable insights on how material properties and structures work at a sub-molecular level.

Nada Marie Anid, Ph.D., dean of the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences, emphasized that the facility will help to boost Long Island's economy by promoting and providing access to advances in high-tech research and development. The Empire State Development Corporation and the National Science Foundation provided funding for the clean room.

Several government officials participated in the ribbon-cutting event, including Sen. Carl L. Marcellino of New York's 5th Senate District, and Cara Longworth, regional director for Long Island, Empire State Development Corporation. Peter DiSilvio, director of special projects in the Nassau County Executive Office, presented a citation to NYIT in honor of the new facility.

"Our vision to promote 'engineering for society' is alive today," said Anid. "It lives through the innovation brought into our classrooms by our industry and community partnerships, our school's advisory board, and NYIT's Entrepreneurship and Technology Innovation Center."

Tom Van Laan (M.B.A. '84), CEO of CloudCalc, Inc., an entrepreneur and member of the NYIT School of Engineering and Computing Sciences' advisory board, noted that a facility like the clean room supports industry and business, thanks to the research and development it enables and the productivity it drives. He said: "It engenders a great sense of pride in NYIT."

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About NYIT

New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) offers 90 degree programs, including undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees, in more than 50 fields of study, including architecture and design; arts and sciences; education; engineering and computing sciences; health professions; management; and osteopathic medicine. A non-profit independent, private institution of higher education, NYIT has more than 12,000 students attending campuses on Long Island and Manhattan, online, and at its global campuses. NYIT sponsors 11 NCAA Division II programs and one Division I team.

Led by President Edward Guiliano, NYIT is guided by its mission to provide career-oriented professional education, offer access to opportunity to all qualified students, and support applications-oriented research that benefits the larger world. To date, nearly 100,000 graduates have received degrees from NYIT. For more information, visit nyit.edu.

Elizabeth Sullivan
Director of Media Relations
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