A consortium of universities and corporations led by Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) will receive a state grant to establish a New York State Center for Advanced Technology in additive manufacturing and functional printing. The center, to be called the AMPrint Center for Advanced Technology, will be based at RIT. Its focus will be to conduct research and development in 3D printing and additive manufacturing. Research partners in the consortium will develop next-generation polymer, metal and composite technologies. They will use the new facility to synthesize advanced functional materials, develop additive-manufacturing technologies, and design novel devices using the new materials and technologies.

The consortium’s university partners include RIT, Clarkson University and SUNY New Paltz and corporate partners Xerox Corp., GE Research, Corning Inc., Eastman Kodak Co. and MakerBot.  Denis Cormier, RIT’s Earl W. Brinkman Professor and a national expert on 3D printing and additive manufacturing, will lead the AMPrint Center. The award, $921,000 a year renewal for up to 10 years (subject to annual performance evaluations) was announced by Empire State Development, New York state’s economic development agency.