Eastman Business Park in Rochester selected as site of integrated photonics hub

Dec. 23, 2016

Andrew Cuomo announced that Eastman Business Park was selected to be a new research hub for integrated photonics.

On Wednesday, December 14, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that Eastman Business Park in Rochester, NY was selected to be a new research hub for integrated photonics. The facility will be used to test, assemble, and develop silicon-based photonic components.

Elizabeth Rogan, CEO of The Optical Society (OSA; Washington, DC), congratulated New York Photonics on the selection and said, "Started in Rochester a century ago, OSA is a founding partner of AIM Photonics and committed to fostering growth of the U.S. photonics industry. The new facility is well positioned to leverage the industry expertise in the region and expand innovation."

U.S. Congresswoman Slaughter (D-N.Y.) said, "The selection of ON Semiconductor’s Rochester facility as the site for the nation's only Testing, Assembly and Packaging (TAP) location is an important step to get the photonics institute online. I’m especially proud that this one-of-a-kind facility will be calling the nation's most impressive industrial park home. This decision will give leaders at the TAP facility on-site expertise while helping Eastman Business Park attract new businesses and continue to grow. The three-year effort to bring a photonics manufacturing institute to Rochester has allowed Monroe County to lead the world in photonics research and build the most advanced and innovative workforce anywhere."

Alan E. Willner, 2016 President of The Optical Society and Steven & Kathryn Sample Chair in Engineering, University of Southern California, said, "The new AIM Photonics facility is a powerful and unique home for efficient testing, assembly and packaging of state-of-the-art integrated photonics – bringing with it valuable innovation and important job development in the Rochester region."

SOURCE: OSA; http://www.osa.org/en-us/about_osa/newsroom/news_releases/2016/photonics_hub_to_open_in_2017_at_kodak_s_eastman_b/

About the Author

Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)

Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.