Stevens Institute of Technology of the Americas debuts

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Hoboken, New Jersey – The establishment of the first engineering university of its kind in Latin America, the Stevens Institute of Technology of the Americas (SITTA), will begin accepting students to its new graduate program in Fall of 2006, His Excellency, Dr. Leonel Fernandez, President of the Dominican Republic, Dr. Hal Raveche, President of Stevens Institute of Technology and Pablo Tapia, Founder/CEO of Coralina Group Technologies announced today at a ceremony in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The new university will offer both undergraduate and advanced degrees, including PhDs, in engineering and various high technology disciplines.

SITTA is modeled after Stevens Institute of Technology, the engineering school located in Hoboken , New Jersey , that has been a critical driver of technology innovation for more than 100 years. One of the leading technological universities in the US , Stevens offers a unique educational environment called Technogenesis, where students, faculty and industry jointly nurture new technologies from concept to marketplace realization.

The establishment of this entity of advanced learning is among the first steps toward the implementation of a broader economic strategy to establish the Dominican Republic as a center for advanced engineering, business leadership and innovative technology in such areas as computer and telecommunications software, agriproducts, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, said His Excellency, Dr. Leonel Fernandez, President of the Dominican Republic.

“We see this as a major step forward in the Dominican Republic ’s participation in the global high technology market, and as a model for all of Latin America ,” said President Fernandez. “Advanced education is key for our country developing the creative talent base to encourage firms to locate their development programs to the Dominican Republic . We applaud this private sector initiative to create a premier center of high technology education. But our vision with this new university goes beyond that. We look forward to Dominican’s creating innovative solutions and new exciting business enterprises,” observed President Fernandez.

“I am excited about contributing to the development of this new university which will greatly further the objectives of the Dominican Republic to achieve greater economic growth and business expansion,” said Dr. Hal Raveche, President of Stevens Institute of Technology.

Stevens Institute of Technology is one the world’s premier technological universities, Dr. Raveche said. “Stevens combines advanced engineering and management programs in partnership with private industry as part of our Technogenesis methodology. Additionally, Stevens is a leader of advanced Research and Development in several innovative technologies, including wireless, cybersecurity, nanotechnology and environmental engineering.”

Dr. Raveche said SITTA will provide customized engineering, science and technology management programs that are based on the same rigorous research and high academic standards found at Stevens in the USA . “The research centers that will be established will benefit from the experience base of Stevens in creating innovative technologies in partnership with business, industry and private investors,” concluded Dr. Raveche.

“This is a critical and strategic project for the country and the region. We will provide the educational engineering foundation necessary to create the world-class talent base needed to allow the Dominican Republic to participate in the high technology sector. SITTA will be an educational and technology innovation center for the rest of Latin America ,” said Pablo Tapia, Founder/CEO of Coralina Group Technologies. “We will locate the new University in the same campus as the Santo Domingo Technology Park which will provide us with modern buildings and advanced telecommunications capabilities,” said Mr. Tapia. “The venue for this project will be unique in the world, as both academia and high tech corporations will be co-located within the same campus, allowing the creation of exciting synergistic business opportunities,” concluded Mr. Tapia.

“The establishment of this new university realizes a major objective of the Dominican Republic : create the educational platform which will allow the region to build upon. Creative private initiative such as this will ensure that this objective is realized,” said Mr. Eddy Martinez, Executive Director of the Center for the Promotion of Exports and Investments,” As the university begins to expand, graduate highly trained students and invests in R&D facilities, firms will begin to locate their development activities in the country to take advantage of the country’s inherent cost and geographic advantages,” concluded Mr. Martinez.

About Coralina Group Technologies

Coralina Group Technologies was founded by Pablo E Tapia as a development platform enabling the Dominican Republic 's acceleration as a new center of software and High-tech development. Leveraging the seasoned experience of its executive management team, the Group will invest and provide management leadership in helping to create and establish high technology and software development companies in the Dominican Republic and North America . The Coralina Group immediately identified the need to establish a world-class engineering and research university in the DR to develop the necessary Human Capital and founded 'Stevens Institute of Technology of the Americas ' in partnership with Stevens Institute of Technology in the USA (coralina.com)

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

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