The state has allocated $5 million through the New York State Construction Fund for the Kazuo Inamori School of Engineering at Alfred University (AU), it was announced last week. The university said it will use the funds for facilities and equipment at the new school. The state allocation augments a March 2005 $10 million gift from Kyocera Corp., a manufacturer of advanced ceramic materials, in honor of its founder, Kazuo Inamori. The university dedicated the engineering school in Inamori's honor in October 2005. With income from the Kyocera endowment, the university plans to hire as many as four professors for the new center, which is dedicated to research in nanotechnology for photonic and biomedical applications and the development of advanced materials. The School of Engineering offers programs in biomedical materials engineering science, ceramic engineering, materials science engineering and glass science engineering that are administered by AU under a contract with the State University of New York (SUNY); those programs are part of the New York State College of Ceramics. For more information, visit: www.alfred.edu