Assemblyman Joseph D. Morelle, a life long Democrat, represents the 132^nd Assembly District, which includes portions of the city of Rochester and the Monroe County suburbs of Irondequoit and Brighton. He was re-elected to a seventh term in 2002.

During his tenure in the State Legislature, Assemblyman Morelle has made economic development and expanding employment opportunities his top priority.  The more than 70 laws authored by Assemblyman Morelle include major reforms to the workers’ compensation system, which have provided needed relief to New York businesses.  He also penned laws to require carbon monoxide detectors in one and two family homes, toughen regulations governing New York State charitable organizations, and aided our seniors by increasing their real property tax exemption.

In January 2001, Assemblyman Morelle was appointed the Chairman of the Assembly Standing Committee on Tourism, Arts, and Sports Development.  He has been a strong advocate for local tourism and arts organizations and worked with area leaders to develop Rochester as a tourism and arts center here in Western New York.  Assemblyman Morelle has lent his support to many local tourism and arts organizations, such as Garth Fagan Dance, Memorial Art Gallery, Susan B. Anthony House, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the George Eastman House, Strong Museum, Rochester Museum and Science Center and the Rochester City Ballet.

In addition to the Tourism Committee, Assemblyman Morelle’s standing committee assignments for 2004 include Economic Development, Job Creation, Commerce and Industry; Higher Education; Local Governments; and Libraries and Education Technology.

Richard A. Bendis is President and CEO of Innovation Philadelphia (IP), a public/private partnership dedicated to growing the wealth and the workforce of the Greater Philadelphia Region. IP manages an umbrella of programs under four distinct areas: Direct Equity Investment/Financing Assistance; Technology Commercialization; and Global Economic Development and Regional Economic Development.

Throughout his career, Mr. Bendis has distinguished himself as a successful entrepreneur, corporate executive, venture capitalist, investment banker, and consultant in the technology and healthcare industries.

He is a frequent, seasoned international consultant and speaker to the United Nations, NATO, the European Commission, national and international technology-based economic development and industry organizations and other global enterprises. His presentations have covered such specialty areas as economic regeneration and clusters; innovation and enterprise systems; new and emerging technology enterprises; developing an entrepreneurial culture; building effective public/private partnerships; technology transfer and business commercialization policies and programs; high-tech business park development; and the role of public policy, information technologies, and economic development, to name only a few. He also shares his thought leadership about the importance of enhancing the Global Innovation Economy of the Greater Philadelphia Region in business and trade publications.

Mr. Bendis currently serves, or has served, as a member of several national initiatives including the White House U.S. Innovation Partnership Advisory Task Force; the Council on Competitiveness; the National Governor's Association Science and Technology Council Executive Committee; the State Science and Technology Institute Executive Committee; the U.S. Small Business Administration's Angel Capital Electronic Network Board; the National Association of Seed and Venture Capital Fund Board; and the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership National Advisory Board. He serves as a director on several technology companies and seed capital funds.

Prior to his appointment as IP's first President and CEO in 2001, Mr. Bendis successfully converted a career in the private sector and venture capital areas to build the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation (KTEC) into a globally recognized model for technology-based economic development. He was involved from its inception in 1987 as its first Chairman and served as President and CEO from 1994-2001.

As President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Integrated Nano-Technologies (INT), Dr. Connolly is the inventor of the company's technology and the founder of INT.

Dr. Connolly has assembled a team of pioneering researchers, innovative engineers and a strong, committed management team to support his vision. He holds a PhD in molecular biology from Northwestern University and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago. After completing his J.D. at Cornell University, he practiced as a patent attorney at Nixon Peabody, LLP, playing a significant role in the licensing strategy for a major genomics company, as well as patenting, protecting and licensing technologies for several companies and universities.

Ellen K. Levy
artist and teacher
President
College Art Association (2004-2006)

Ellen K. Levy, an artist, writer, and teacher at Brooklyn College, is currently President of the College Art Association (CAA), the umbrella arts organization of over 14,000 members.  Reflecting her own artistic interest in the dialogue among art, science, and technology, Levy has been influential in encouraging interdisciplinary activities at CAA.  In her art, she visualizes evolutionary links among technological inventions, focusing on the ways that various industries intersect. The works suggest a complex, evolutionary portrait of how economic competition and innovation develop over time.  She has exhibited extensively in the US and abroad and is represented by Michael Steinberg Fine Arts.  In 1996 she guest edited and contributed to a special issue of the Art Journal, “Contemporary Art and the Genetic Code.” At the time, this topic was little-explored.  Her chapter, “Art and the Biotech Industry” was published in 2005 as part of the book, Art et Biotechnologies, (Québec: Presses de l'Université du Québec). Other of her publications include Leonardo, Endeavour, and Perspectives in Biology and Medicine. Among other honors, Levy was Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Arts and Sciences at Skidmore College in spring 1999, a position funded by the Henry Luce Foundation. She received an Emerging Artist Award from the Association International des Critiques d’Art in 1996 and was awarded a commission for a painting from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1985. That work was subsequently toured by SITES as part of NASA’s traveling exhibition, Visions of Flight. Her work is now on view at the Ezra and Zilkha Gallery at Wesleyan University (through March 5) and is included in a tour that will start at the Field Museum in Chicago called Genes and Genius: The Inheritance of Gregor Mendel.

Nabil Nasr is Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs and the Director of the Center for Integrated Manufacturing Studies at Rochester Institute of Technology. He is also the founding director of the National Center for Remanufacturing and Resource Recovery (NC3R), a unit of CIMS.

Dr. Nasr earned a BS in industrial engineering from Helwan University, an MS in industrial and systems engineering from Rutgers University, an M.Eng. in manufacturing engineering from Penn State University, and a Ph.D. in industrial and manufacturing engineering from Rutgers University.

Dr. Nasr joined RIT’s College of Engineering as an assistant professor in 1989. In 1996, he was named Earl W. Brinkman Professor. As a faculty member, he has received awards for outstanding teaching and outstanding student services. He has taught more than 15 courses in subjects related to manufacturing. Dr. Nasr has also taught several workshops for industry in manufacturing facility planning and design, production planning, factory automation, and numerical control. In 1997, Dr. Nasr founded the National Center for Remanufacturing and Resource Recovery. Dr. Nasr was named Director of CIMS in 2002.

For over 16 years Dr. Nasr has been a leader in the research and development efforts in environmentally benign manufacturing, remanufacturing, and sustainable design. He has developed strong ties to industry through efforts to implement and improve sustainable design processes at hundreds of companies from diverse sectors. Dr. Nasr is a renowned presenter in this field, has chaired a number of industry-wide conference sessions, and published numerous technical papers. He has served on several national task forces in this field and is a member of the National Academies National Research Council Manufacturing Board. He is also the Chairman of the Remanufacturing Industries Council and several industrial boards.

David R. Smith
Chief Executive Officer
Infotonics Technology Center

David Smith began his Kodak career in 1965 as an electrical engineer. He has had many diverse assignments in Kodak Apparatus Division and Kodak Park Engineering with increasing levels of responsibility in design engineering, technology development, process improvement and systems engineering. In 1985 he was appointed Director of Automatic Machine Systems Technology, now known as Manufacturing Systems Technology Division. MSTD is a corporate technical resource that develops manufacturing process technology, designs high performance manufacturing systems and installs these systems in new and existing factories around the world. Effective June 1997, David R. Smith was then appointed Director, Production Systems Engineering & Technology Organization, Eastman Kodak Research & Development. The organization concentrated on process R&D for discrete products, encompassing media converting, packaging and high volume equipment manufacturing. Mr. Smith remained the R&D Technical Director, Advanced Production & Commercialization Technology Platform until he just recently retired.

A native of Massachusetts , Mr. Smith has a MS in Electrical Engineering from University of Rochester and a BS in Electrical Engineering University of Massachusetts.

Mr. Smith is a founding member and was Chair of the Board of Directors, Infotonics Technology Center Inc. from 2002-2004.  In addition he is Chair of the Board of Directors for OIDA (Optoelectronics Industry Development Association). Professional memberships include the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE Senior Member) and American Society for Quality.