Robyn Wishna/University Photography

Gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio visits the Cornell synchrotron March 22. From left: Provost Kent Fuchs, Lazio, and Sol Gruner, director of Cornell High-Energy Synchrotron Source.

Learning about Cornell research and discussing ways for the university and New York state to work together were themes of a visit to campus by Rick Lazio, Republican candidate for New York governor, March 22.

The former congressman who also ran for the New York State Senate in 2000 toured Cornell's Wilson Synchrotron Laboratory with Sol Gruner, director of the Cornell High-Energy Synchrotron Source, and Provost Kent Fuchs.

Gruner led Lazio through major areas of the synchrotron facility, including the control room, the superconducting RF cavities and the electron beam injector -- a $20 million piece of prototype equipment that's an early phase of the planned Energy Recovery Linac. He briefed the candidate on further plans for the ERL, a new type of X-ray source that Cornell hopes to build with mostly federal funds.

"It's something certainly that I think, as governor, I would be looking strongly toward as an ... initiative to spur the kinds of things I'm talking about," said Lazio, who spoke earlier to reporters about his plans to create jobs in New York.

Gruner explained that Cornell is asking New York to support the project, expected to cost upward of $500 million, by providing inexpensive electric power to operate the machinery once it gets built, if the National Science Foundation decides to fund the project. He noted that the ERL would benefit the state by providing jobs and high-tech infrastructure.

"In return for a few million dollars a year for electricity, the federal government would inject tens of millions of dollars per year into New York for decades to operate the facility," Gruner said.

After the tour, Lazio met with Tim Marchell, director of mental health initiatives, to talk about recent student deaths on campus and the university's public health responses.