Rep. Slaughter has secured more than $22 million in federal funding for Rochester Institute of Technology's Center for Integrated Manufacturing Studies (CIMS). Manufacturing is the second largest employment sector in this area and the foundation of this economy. CIMS was designed to specifically meet the needs of small and medium sized manufacturing firms to help them adapt and adopt new methods to become more productive and competitive in the world market. CIMS accomplishes this goal by developing state-of-the-art manufacturing techniques and facilities that local companies can use for prototype research and development. Sharing these facilities allows a wide range of businesses to develop new products without having to build expensive capital facilities before they are ready to go into full production.

As mentioned above, the Congresswoman was able to secure $2.75 million for a Delphi / Rochester Institute of Technology venture to develop a better fuel cell battery, which will help accelerate the application of SOFC technology into stationary and mobile systems within the U.S. Department of Defense. A SOFC is a highly-efficient electrochemical generator that produces environmentally-friendly electricity directly from currently-available fuels. This work builds upon Delphi's fuel cell development efforts and will utilize CIMS' state-of-the-art sensors-monitoring technology to evaluate the quality of fuel-cell powered systems. She also secured $2.4 million for a joint program between Logical Images and the Navy to allow them faster recognition and response to disease conditions, improving the quality of care given and overall health of their personnel.

Over the past years, Rep. Slaughter has secured funds for the Centers of Excellence in Buffalo and Rochester. The Infotonics Center outside Rochester and the Bioinformatics Center at the University of Buffalo bring cutting-edge technology and world-class research scientists to Western New York to help solve some of the worlds most difficult problems. Since 2001 Rep. Slaughter has brought over $18 million dollars to the area for the Centers for Excellence.

During the 110th Congress, Rep. Slaughter introduced H.R. 5469, Waterfront Brownfields Revitalization Act. This legislation provides support to communities seeking to overcome the unique challenges of revitalizing waterfront brownfield properties. It would establish a pilot program to provide local communities with up to $500,000 to assist and showcase communities that are overcoming the challenges of waterfront brownfields. These grants can be used for reuse planning, design and engineering, technical assistance and capacity building, and waterfront brownfields assessment and cleanup. This pilot program will help lay the ground work for the development and revitalization of waterfront brownfields around the country and helps local communities reconnect with their waterfronts after decades of environmental contamination stemming from our nation's industrial heritage.

In April, the EPA selected the Village of Youngstown for a brownfields cleanup grant worth $110,000 for hazardous substances. Hazardous substances grant funds will be used to clean up the Youngstown Cold Storage site at 701 Nancy Price Drive. The site was once used to wash, store, and pack locally grown apples. Buildings and soil on the site are contaminated with volatile organic compounds, PCBs, metals, and inorganic contaminants. Grant funds also will be used to support community outreach activities.