From working on a sheep farm during her high school years to leading glass innovations, Polly Chu's life has taken her in many directions. Her latest journey has led her to become executive director of a Binghamton University-led initiative, the Battery Tech Hub.
"I was very excited to join this initiative, as it has a very compelling mission to bolster domestic manufacturing to meet U.S. needs for batteries," Chu said. "To achieve that mission means operating at this nexus of businesses, industry, academia, government organizations and nonprofits - to develop an ecosystem that enables technology innovation and helps companies to build manufacturing capability and capacity to create good jobs."
The Tech Hubs program, under the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration, aims to drive economic growth, particularly for technology and industry. It's formally known as the New Energy New York (NENY) Battery Tech Hub, an element of the NENY ecosystem that was launched under the EDA's Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC). Programs include education and workforce development, innovation support with prototyping and test beds, and supply chain development.
One of the goals of the EDA Tech Hub, according to SUNY Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Nobel Laureate M. Stanley Whittingham, is to merge with the BBBRC and transition NENY from the regional challenge into the Tech Hub.
"Polly has got the background of working with industry, and that's critical for the Tech Hub," Whittingham said. "She's also obviously a scientist by training."
In tandem with the NSF Energy Storage Engine in Upstate New York, these initiatives will work to support innovation and workforce development in the area.
"It's not a separative initiative," Chu said. "It's a transition initiative, and also ensuring we're aligned with the NSF Engine to deliver to this region and form a value chain ecosystem that bolsters manufacturing for the U.S."
The Tech Hub will back businesses at all levels, pulling in larger corporations while also continuing to support start-ups.
"With over 30 years of experience in industry, Polly brings a unique combination of deep regional understanding and global insights into the battery supply chain," said Bandhana Katoch, assistant vice president of the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Partnerships at Binghamton University. "Her appointment opens exciting new opportunities for collaboration and strengthens regional resilience through innovation, commercialization and strategic partnerships."
Chu, who joined the team in April, credits the leaders before her for laying a strong foundation.
"It is important to acknowledge there was a vision that we can stand up a region that delivers large scale battery manufacturing," she said. "It's something we should be investing in."
The idea of working in higher education has piqued Chu's interest for years, and she served on higher education academic advisory boards during her time in industry.
"To deliver technology innovation, it's important to ensure we have education, training and practical experience for folks to enter the workforce," she said.
But even before joining the Tech Hub, most of Chu's life revolved around technology in some way - whether creating it herself or managing innovation organizations around it. While she entered college thinking she would go into veterinary science, Chu ended up pivoting to engineering.
She kicked off her career working at Johnson & Johnson, before obtaining a doctorate from Cornell University in material science and engineering. After that, she found her next career at Corning Inc.
"I thought I was going to be a bench scientist and work in a laboratory," she said. "I thought that was really interesting work."
During the course of three decades at Corning Inc., however, Chu took on a variety of roles beyond the lab. She had a stint in North Carolina to work at an optical fiber plant, was the business director for semiconductor materials, functional manager of global organizations and managed multiple innovation product and process programs.
But no matter if she's doing scientific research or crunching numbers, she is in the business of solutions.
"I was trained to think about the problem statement. I like to solve problems. I like to strategize," she said. "I like to move technology forward where it has an application, so you can see it in the marketplace. I also like to help design organizations and grow talent. It is putting pieces of the puzzle together."
Chu has led innovation teams from ideation to commercialization and first manufacturing. Among those solutions are 21 patents, including optical fibers, lenses for semiconductors and bendable glass for foldable phones.
Today, she has found her calling not only in moving technology forward, but also in lifelong learning.
"I want to keep learning and working to solve problems, to bring customers valued products and manufacturing processes to market," Chu said.
