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U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko welcomed President Barack Obama to the 21st Congressional District Monday, calling the president's address to students and community leaders at Hudson Valley Community College a terrific opportunity to show off how the region has earned a national reputation as a leader in advanced technology and clean energy development.
 
“I am thrilled that the president chose to speak at Hudson Valley Community College, which has pioneered green energy and high tech training programs that are getting students ready for the jobs of the future, at such places as Global Foundries in Malta and General Electric in Schenectady,” said Rep.Tonko. “President Obama recognizes that community colleges will serve a critical role in helping ready our workforce for the new jobs that will grow out of the push to develop renewable energy sources and decrease our dependence on fossil fuels. In our region, we have leveraged public investment in partnership with academia and private industry to grow a high technology and green energy corridor that could be a model for other communities across the country to follow.”
 
Rep. Tonko continued, “I am proud to be working with my colleagues in Congress and with the president to make the investments that will spark an innovation economy that will not only lead to a better energy outcome for our nation and the world, but enhance our national as well as our economic security.”
 
Congressman Tonko invited a handful of guests to the event, including Dr. Alain Kaloyeros, President and Chief Administrative Office of the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering and Dr. George Philip, President of the University at Albany.

Congressman Tonko also invited Leah Penniman, a biotechnology and environmental sciences teacher at Tech Valley High School in Rensselaer. Ms. Penniman, who was a founding director of the Harriet Tubman Free School in Albany, has been recognized as a teacher of excellence in 21st century teaching and learning by the New Tech Network of Schools. Ms. Penniman also trains other teachers and has provided professional development at national conferences.

“Leah Penniman represents what will be the critical link between students and a new innovation economy; that is, teachers who can spark and speak to the hearts and minds of our children, who are the driving force of our future. Teachers like Leah will be the lynchpin of our students’ creative abilities and knowhow in the global economy, as we compete against nations such as China, Japan and Germany for intellectual capital and cutting edge technology.”

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