Crossroads: Engineering educator

Yacov Shamash, vice president of economic development, dean of College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Stony Brook University

Economic outlook: Spirit of innovation behind many local new high-tech companies could lead to an economic renaissance.

Job outlook: In time, jobs related to software, biotechnology and other cutting-edge fields will be plentiful.

I think you will find that in terms of technologies, we are going to see much more in the area of . . . biotech. I think software is going to grow. Electronics will continue to grow and to do well, as well as defense. Defense is doing quite well right now, what's left of it on Long Island.

And I think the energy sector will pick up. We will find many new technology companies being created on Long Island that are based on alternative fuels, nonfossil-fuel generation of power. I think you're going to see a lot of it, a lot of activity on Long Island . . . for example, we're doing a lot of work in the smart-grid area.

Whether it's engineering jobs, it's software developers, it's biologists, it's chemical engineers - they're all going to be needed . . . those are certainly very, very, good high-paying jobs. . . . One other resource that we have not taken full advantage of on Long Island is the financial institutions in the city. That's where there's a lot of money and we are seeing more interest by institutions in the city, venture capitalists that want to come in.