Libous was on campus to receive an update on a number of new initiatives, including the Events Center, the Innovative Technologies Complex that will be housed in the former NYSEG building, and research collaborations between local industry and the Watson School’s Integrated Electronics Engineering Center (IEEC). After touring the Events Center, Libous was briefed on the progress of converting the former NYSEG building into a modern research facility and then met with nearly a dozen representatives of local industry who receive research support from University faculty and students.

Libous, who secured a $15 million Gen•NY•sis grant through the state Senate to support development of the ITC, said he is working to get the money released to the campus. The University has completed the design for the center and hopes to begin using the facility by next fall. Libous also said he expects an announcement shortly from the governor’s office on funding for a proposed education center in downtown Binghamton to house University and Broome Community College programs.

During the meeting with industrial leaders at the Watson School, Libous said the IEEC, which is a state-designated Center for Advanced Technology, has played an important role in building relationships among local companies involved in electronics packaging. “The University is a wonderful, fantastic place,” he said. “And that mindset is finally understood in the community. We need to continue to push that in all aspects as we build these relationships.”

Industrial representatives said the center has also been invaluable to both large and small companies in making them competitive. Among the companies represented were IBM, Universal Instruments, Lockheed Martin, General Electric, Endicott Interconnect Technologies (EIT), Diamond Visionics and Hidden Valley Electronics.

Bahgat Sammakia, interim vice president for research and director of the IEEC, said the center is shifting its focus from electronics packaging to small-scale systems and is developing new partnerships, including RPI and EIT. The revamped IEEC, which is up for renewal as a state-funded CAT, will also be the basis of the University’s bid to become a Center for Excellence in small scale systems. “The recertification of the CAT is important,” Libous said. “I’ve been supportive and maybe we can take it to that next level next year.”

Ray Fillion of General Electric said the shift to small-scale systems positions the center in the right place at the right time for developing a new technology that has great promise.

Other industry representatives said research work by faculty and students and access to high-tech equipment like reliability testing was crucial to their businesses. “We have been able to leverage university research in ways that have made us competitive,” said Bill Murphy of Lockheed Martin.

James Pitarresi, chair of mechanical engineering, said the contact with industry could help nurture an entrepreneurial spirit in faculty and students that is part of the new economy.

Heishman, who is stepping down after 14 years as director of the University Libraries, said she plans to retire to West Virginia and run a bookstore.

“The timing is good,” she said. “A lot of the things I wanted to achieve have  been accomplished. I want to leave with the Libraries in a strong position to do a search for my replacement.”

Provost Mary Ann Swain praised the “superb leadership” Heishman has  provided for Binghamton and the SUNY system. “She has overseen preservation of print materials and a significant move toward enabling access to more and more electronic materials,” said Swain. “She chaired the SUNY committee responsible for developing a forward-looking plan to link all the system’s libraries thereby making significantly more resources readily available to our students, faculty and staff. The campus could not have increased its graduate and research presence without the support of excellent libraries. I shall miss her constructive thinking about the institution as a whole and her good humor.”

Among the accomplishments while Heishman was director is the recent implementation of the online catalog at Binghamton as part of the SUNYConnect Project. The goal of the project is to link the library resources of more than 60 campuses, making it the largest library system of a public university. Binghamton is serving as one of six pilot sites for the system through its new BearCat online catalog.

Heishman chaired the SUNYConnect Advisory Council for a year during the planning phase and continues to represent the university centers on the council as the program is implemented. She also serves on the New York Higher Education Initiative to explore the potential for cooperative acquisitions among the libraries of public and private academic institutions in New York.

When Heishman came to Binghamton from the University of Cincinnati, where she was associate university librarian the Internet hadn’t been invented yet. BU Libraries had a half dozen computers, and traditional card catalogs. Today, it has more than 300 computers, an expanding number of online databases and electronic resources, and network connections to resources around the world.

“There have been dramatic changes in how information is published and how it is accessed,” Heishman said. “We have been aggressive in licensing access to the new electronic resources for the campus.”

A key to the success of the University Libraries, Heishman said, has been the skill and commitment of her staff. “When I came in 1988, I found a staff that was ready to move forward and ready to change. They were willing to undertake an ambitious instructional program, the aggressive move to new computer systems and electronic resources and evaluation of collections.”

The new technology requires that librarians take on a greater role in teaching users retrieval skills and ensuring and maintaining accessibility, she said.

During Heishman’s tenure, the libraries weathered several budget downturns while the cost of information sources skyrocketed. Despite the challenges, Heishman said the University, particularly the provost’s office, had a strong commitment to providing information resources to support the academic programs.

Heishman said budget constraints forced the libraries to do a major serial review and cancel some of traditional paper subscriptions. At the same the access to on-line resources was enhanced so that the reduction in locally owned journals would not mean less access to information for the students and faculty.

Even with the digital conversion, space continues to be a major issue for the libraries. “The next phases of the Bartle renovation needs to consider library needs in the context of the total academic picture,” Heishman said, “and take into account changes in how information is published and how we are using libraries.”

She said she expects BU to have a continued long-term need for its off-campus storage facility.
Heishman earned her masters in library science at Drexel University and held positions at Cornell and the University of Cincinnati.

The issue of sovereign immunity for heads of state will continue to be an issue into the 21st century, Bix told the gathering of campus and community members. His presentation was titled “The Impunity Question: From Hirohito to  Milosevic.”

Bix, who won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize in non-fiction for his book, Hirohito and the  Making of Modern Japan, contends that Hirohito was personally and  actively involved in Japan’s aggressive war policies during World War II. After the war, with complicity of the Truman administration and the Japanese ruling  elites, Hirohito avoided prosecution or investigation and continued to hold a  position of honor.

Bix, professor of history and sociology, said American policymakers gave Hirohito “a virtual political pardon” in the pragmatic belief that he could be helpful in the effort. A consensus developed that placed the blame for Japan’s  aggression on the military and minimized the emperor’s role. “I’m not saying  that he was absolved, but his role was never adjudicated,” Bix said. “He refused to abdicate or apologize. This decision to grant impunity to a head of state created more problems than it solved.”

In Japan, Bix said the decision promoted a history of deceit and distortion for the Japanese public about his role in the war and prevented a full normalization between Japan and its neighbors.

In the world community, Hirohito’s ability to walk away from responsibility raises questions about the role of other leaders from Pinochet in Chile, who was able to do the same, to the decision to prosecute Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes in Bosnia.

Developed in 1977, the Harpur Forum is an organization devoted to strengthening the bonds between Binghamton University and the Southern Tier community. The group has more than 325 members and serves business, professional and community leaders in surrounding areas through its Community Forum Breakfast Speaker’s Program, which features nationally known authorities speaking on timely topics throughout the academic year.

The two post-doctoral fellows — Vladislav Bogoyavlenskiy and Natalya Chesnova — are working in Binghamton’s Materials Research Center as part of an exchange initiated more than a year ago by SUNY Chancellor Robert L. King.

King, who has visited Moscow State several times, is working with Russia’s Minister of Education Vladimir Filippov to develop research partnerships and academic exchanges in several areas between Moscow State and SUNY schools. The system is also investigating opportunities to involve industry.

SUNY officials and industry leaders met with a delegation from Moscow State University in February to explore options in advanced materials. The Russian delegation included Rector Victor Sadovnichii (equivalent to chancellor or president); Yuri Tretyakov, dean of the materials science faculty; and Valery Lunin, dean of the chemistry faculty.

As many as 15 post-doctoral researchers eventually could participate in advanced materials exchanges at Binghamton and other SUNY schools.

Details of the Binghamton exchange, which began in October with the arrival of the two post-doctoral fellows, were worked out when Tretyakov visited Binghamton to meet with M. Stanley Whittingham, professor of chemistry and director of the Institute for Materials Research, and tour Binghamton’s facilities. Whittingham and Tretyakov have known each other professionally for about 20 years.

“Tretyakov and I agreed that the most fruitful initial interactions would be at the postdoc and mid-career faculty level,” Whittingham said. “Postdoctoral fellows from Moscow State will come to Binghamton for a year; at the same time a faculty exchange program would be initiated. A faculty member from MSU might visit here for a month or two, whereas a mid-career Binghamton faculty member might visit MSU for several weeks giving seminars and meeting faculty. This way we would build confidence in each other and be more comfortable in exchanging students.”

The international research division of Corning Inc. has agreed to provide financial support for the two students and said it will consider employing the two at its St. Petersburg research facility upon their return to Russia.

“International research fellowships such as this are the foundation for long-term scientific collaborations,” said Frances E. Carr, vice president for research. “The benefits extend beyond the advancement of scientific inquiry to enhanced global understanding.”

The two researchers, both with PhDs in physics, are working under the direction of Eric Cotts, associate professor of physics who directs thermal analysis research at the center.

Bogoyavlenskiy is investigating theoretical issues related to flow-over obstructions in electronic packaging and fluid dynamics. Chesnova, who is following an experimental approach, has been certified in the nanofabrication laboratory at Cornell University and is learning to use the SQUID facility to measure magnetic properties and the physical vapor deposition system.

In addition, the two have given lectures and are expected to regularly interact with other BU researchers.

Bogoyavlenskiy said that though they have noted some differences in academic approach, they have found many commonalities. “The principles are the same,” he said. “The differences are in the details.”

In particular, they noted that American students have more choices in their subjects and courses and are more independent.