LI Business News- What’s in a name?

Friday September 01, 2006

From LI Business News:

What’s in a name?

By Jean Paul Vellotti

Thursday, August 31, 2006

MELVILLE – “The New York State Applied Science Center of Innovation and Excellence in Homeland Security” is a mouthful.

And it can be many other things, including the Department of Homeland Security’s first choice for developing and researching new approaches to protecting America.

“DHS does not have a designated engineering center right now, and we’re hoping they will make our center their engineering center of excellence,” said Ken Morrelly, president of the Long Island Forum for Technology and director of the proposed Bethpage facility.

Sen. Dean Skelos, R-Rockville Centre, who led the initiative to raise government funding for the center, will petition DHS to designate the Long Island center as its engineering hub. So will the chairman of the House’s Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Peter King, R-NY, according to Morrelly.

Bob Gearhart, director of homeland security and homeland defense for Northrop Grumman, said the DHS is currently operating with only 50 percent of its recommended staff and could use the center’s assistance. “DHS looks to develop solutions in six, nine, 12, at most 18 months out – that’s their charter from the president,” Gearhart said. “They need to develop solutions quickly and need facilities like this to move their projects forward.”

Morrelly and Gearhart addressed approximately 100 interested center tenants Thursday morning at the Hilton Long Island, updating them on the center’s progress over the past four months.

Officials had originally planned to construct a new facility for the center, but are now planning to occupy one of two existing Bethpage buildings. The center could be occupied, up and running by the end of 2007.

During Thursday's presentation, Morrelly unveiled the center’s new logo, which borrows heavily from the Great Seal of the United States and the DHS logo. The icon features the familiar bald eagle grasping arrows and wheat with its claws. On the eagle’s breast is a version of the U.S. flag and an image of something all Americans can relate to when they hear the words “homeland security” – the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

The center’s 14-word name is also wrapped around the logo.