A major economic development agency recently announced that it would be designating Syracuse University’s College of Law as a New York State Science and Technology Law Center.

Over the course of five years, the Law Center will be supported by about $1.7 million in funding from Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation, according to a New York state press release.

The Daily Orange spoke with Jack Rudnick, the director of the center, to learn more about the program and its new designation.

The Daily Orange: Can you go into more detail about commercialization technology?

Jack Rudnick: Syracuse University College of Law started a law commercialization program almost 30 years ago called The Technology Commercialization Law Program … we were the first law school to ever do that. The idea when they started the program was to graduate attorneys who could do something to help tech companies get started. The program was very popular and it graduated good people who work in the industry. The program incorporated classroom stuff, but the best part were the exercises, projects for companies, local tech companies.

The D.O.: So what industries are you planning on partnering with?

J.R.: We have a particular strength in biomedical, and I think that looking at our role as a center for New York state, that’s probably the best thing that we could have to try to leverage. They call it “meds and eds.” All the different medical schools and hospitals … across the state. And then the educational opportunities, and looking at the meds and eds, and the tech that comes out of that particular expertise, our strength is in biotech.

The D.O.: What kind of new responsibilities does having this grant take on?

J.R.: This is our fifth grant in a row, so I mean, it’s not anything new, but with the period being from three to five years now and a little more money, we’re going to expand. We’re going to expand by trying to help not transfer and translate technology out of universities, but help to transfer and translate technologists, the students, the graduates students, the master’s degrees and the Ph.D.’s to help them understand what it’s like to go to the marketplace. We do projects for these scientists and also will help that person transfer their skill into the marketplace. Our adjunct faculty are all experienced business people, engineers, graduates from medical school … we’ve got a pretty robust adjunct faculty that helps do that, so it’s educational and more projects.

The D.O.: So how has this increased the performance of the law center?

J.R.: I think because we’re unique and because we’re pretty good at what we do, we attract a better student … my students perhaps distinguish themselves more so from other law schools because of the training they get here. So that would help the reputation of the Law Center. We’re not the law school, we’re just a piece of it, but everything we do benefitting the student is a benefit to the law school. And people talk. It’s on social media, it’s pretty well known, we’re getting some nice press and that helps the law school attract better applicants and it helps our graduates get jobs — that’s a big focus for us, is placing our graduates into a jobs. It’s what you do it for.

Published on February 14, 2018 at 10:05 pm