Live  Work  Play  News & Events    Tech Valley News    Events Calendar    Regional Media    Journalist Resources    National Recognition    Images of Tech Valley    First Lego League  About this Site

National Recognition From our campgrounds to our workforce, Tech Valley is home to some of the best resources in the nation. Below is just a sampling of where national organizations and publications rank our schools, business climate, quality of life, hospitals and other important aspects of life, work and recreation.   LIVE Education Forbes ranked Albany-Schenectady-Troy as the third best place in the country with the best education and named Albany a Top IQ Campus as part of its 150 Places to Live Rich. (2005)   Health Albany-Schenectady-Troy is one of the healthiest communities in the nation and one of the healthiest regions for women according to Self Magazine. (2006 & 2005)   Higher Education Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) has been recognized by US News & World Report as one of America’s best colleges, best engineering schools and as a best value among national universities. (2007) University at Albany ranked among the best graduate schools for public affairs specialities: information & technology management, public finance & budgeting, public management administration and public-policy analysis. UAlbany also ranked second in the nation for criminology graduate schools and sixth for nurse anesthesiology. (2007) The United States Military Academy ranked third for best undergraduate engineering programs by US News & World Report. (2007) Skidmore and Vassar are among the top 25 best values for liberal arts colleges by US News & World Report. (2006) Bard, Skidmore, Union and Vassar are all ranked among the top 50 liberal arts colleges by US News & World Report. (2006) Small Times magazine ranked University at Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering as the best in the country for micro and nanotechnology. The school was tops in education and facilities, second in commercialization and sixth in research. (2007) Kiplinger’s Personal Finance ranks Plattsburgh State, SUNY-New Paltz and University at Albany as some of the best values in public education and Marist College among the best for private colleges. (2007 & 2006)   Black Enterprise named Vassar College as one of the top schools for African Americans. (2006) Excelsior College was one of just four schools nationwide to be named a Center of Excellence in Nursing Education by the National League of Nursing. (2005) Reader’s Digest tabbed the Culinary Institute of America as the best cooking school in America. (2005)   Hospitals HealthGrades named Ellis Hospital and St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital as Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence and honored Ellis Hospital, St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital and St. Peter’s Hospital as Distinguished Hospitals for Patient Safety. (2007) HealthGrades also recognized Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital Medical Center for general surgery and orthopedic care; Ellis Hospital for cardiac care, gastrointestinal care and general surgery; Glens Falls Hospital for general surgery and maternity care; Kingston Hospital for general surgery and orthopedic care; Saratoga Hospital for pulmonary care and St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital for critical care. Many other hospitals were awarded five stars (highest ranking) for a variety of medical proceduares. (2007 & 2006) For seven consecutive years, St. Peter’s was named a Top 100 Cardiovascular Hospital by Solucient. Vassar Brothers Medical Center has earned that recognition for two straight years. (2006) National Research Corp. bestowed a Consumer Choice Award to Albany Medical Center for the ninth straight year and to Vassar Brothers Medical Center for the third year in a row. (2006) The American Heart Association honored Ellis Hospital with its Sustained Performance Achievement Award; Albany Medical Center and Vassar Brothers Medical Center with its Annual Performance Achievement Award; and  St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital and with an Initial Performance Achievement Award. (2006) The Leapfrog Group recognized Vassar Brothers Medical Center as a top hospital for quality and safety (2006). St. Peter's Hospital and The Saratoga Hospital have been recognized for excellence in nursing service by the American Nurses Credentialing Center   Housing MSN Money named Albany-Schenectady-Troy as the seventh fastest-growing region that is still affordable. (2005) Finances Albany-Schenectady-Troy, Glens Falls, Hudson, Kingston, Plattsburgh and Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown are all above the national average in saving and investing according to A.G. Edwards Nest Egg Index. (2006) Public Schools Expansion Management recognized the schools in Albany-Schenectady-Troy, Arlington, Glens Falls, Niskayuna, Saratoga, South Colonie and Wappingers Falls as being among the best in the nation. (2006 & 2007) Arlington, Bethlehem Central, Bouton (Voorheesville), George F. Baker (Tuxedo Park), John Jay (Hopewell Junction), New Paltz Central, Niskayuna, O'Neill (Highland Falls), Red Hook, Roy C. Ketcham (Wappingers Falls) and Shaker (Latham) high schools all made Newsweek’s list of the top public schools in the country. (2007) Quality of Life New Paltz, Saranac Lake and Saratoga Springs have all been honored by The National Trust for Historic Preservation for being among America’s distinctive destinations. Expansion Management awarded Albany-Schenectady-Troy with 5 Stars – its highest ranking – for quality of life features. (2006)   Sperling's Best Places/Farmers’ Insurance ranked Albany-Schenectady-Troy 12th and Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown 16th among the most secure place to live among large metro areas. Glens Falls placed 12th among small metros. (2006) CNN/Money placed Delmar 22nd on its list of the best places to live in the U.S. (2005)   Morgan Quinto ranked Colonie ranked 6th overall among America's Safest Cities. (2006) Glens Falls and Albany-Schenectady-Troy are among the nation's top 50 "Green Cities" according to Sperling's Best Places Albany-Schenectady-Troy is the least stressful large metro in the country according to Sperling’s Best Places. Dutchess County (15th) and Newburgh (30th) were among the least stressful mid-size metros. (2004)   Technology Intel listed Albany-Schenectady-Troy among the most “unwired” cities in America. Popular Science named Albany, Newburgh and Poughkeepsie among its top cities for technology. (2005) RPI and Marist College were named to Forbes’ list of the most connected college campuses. (2005) Marist College and Orange County Community College were both dubbed Campus Technology Innovators by Campus Technology. (2006) Northeast Health and VA Healthcare Network Upstate New York were both recognized for its use of technology by Hospital & Health Networks. (2006) WORK Careers Salary.com ranked Troy seventh and Schenectady ninth among the best cities for building personal net worth. (2005) The Trudeau Institute was recognized as the second best place to work in academia by The Scientist. The Wadsworth Center placed seventh. (2005) Fortune placed Nixon Peabody among the 100 best companies to work while Working Mother named IBM and General Electric among the 100 best companies to work and IBM for multicultural women. (2006)   Forbes placed Albany-Schenectady-Troy and Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown on its list of the best areas for jobs. (2007) BusinessWeek named Kingston among the top 10 places for artists in America. (2007) Sperling's Best Places and Intel identified Albany-Schenectady-Troy as the seventh best medium-sized metro area to "telework." (2006) Companies Infinigy Engineering was named an Inc. 500 company and Tech Valley Communications made the publication's Inner City 100 list. (2006) Crystal IS made Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 – a ranking of the fastest growing tech companies in the U.S. On2 Technologies, Albany Molecular Research and AngioDynamics are among the fastest growing New York companies. CORESense, Inc. was named New York’s Rising Star Award Winner. (2005) AngioDynamics, Balchem and MapInfo were recognized by Forbes as being among the best small companies in the U.S. (2006) AngioDynamics and Balchem have been named a hot growth companies by BusinessWeek. (2007 & 2006) Albany Molecular Research and Intermagnetics General both made Red Herring’s Small Cap 100 list for bioscience. (2005) Doing Business Albany-Schenectady-Troy, Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown and Glens Falls are all among the top cities for doing business according to Inc. (2006) Expansion Management awarded Albany-Schenectady-Troy its highest ranking – five stars – as a top business opportunity metro. (2006) New York state ranked second among states for most women-owned businesses and fifth for fastest growth in majority women-owned firms by the Center for Women's Business Research. Albany-Schenectady-Troy placed ninth among metro areas (pop. 200,000 - one million) for business expansion activity while Plattsburgh ranked 12th among micropolitan areas by Site Selection magazine. (2006)   Albany-Schenectady-Troy and Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown both ranked among the Milken Institute’s best performing cities. Glens Falls and Kingston were ranked among the best small metros for performance. (2005)   New York State was ranked as the third largest Cyberstate by AeA, the best state for biotech growth by Business Facilities and the third best state for micro and nanotechnology by Small Times. (2006) Business Facilities placed Glens Falls among the Strongest MSAs for Manufacturing. (2006)   Entrepreneurship Albany-Schenectady-Troy ranked among the top 50 cities for entrepreneurs by Entrepreneur magazine. (2005)   US News & World Report and Entrepreneur magazine list RPI as one of the top entrepreneurial schools in the country. (2006) Logistics Albany-Schenectady-Troy received five stars – the best possible ranking – from Expansion Management and ranked fourth in the Northeast for logistics-friendliness.   Workforce Albany-Schenectady-Troy earned Expansion Management’s highest ranking – five stars – for its knowledge workers and placed 15th on the magazine’s list of the top metros for high-value labor. (2006)   PLAY Biking Mills-Norrie State Park was listed as one of the Top 15 Biking Trails in the country by ReserveAmerica. Campgrounds ReserveAmerica placed four Tech Valley campgrounds in its Top 100 Family Campgrounds: Forked Lake Campground, Meachem Lake Campground, Putnam Pond and Sacandaga Campground. (2006) Events The French and Indian War 250th Celebration and Brotherhood Winery's Annual Grape Stomping Festival were named among the Top 100 Events in North America by the American Bus Association. (2007) Fishing Lake Champlain was named one of the top spots for smallmouth bass fishing by FLW Outdoors magazine.   Golf Saratoga National Golf Course made Golf Digest’s list of America's Greatest Public Courses. (2005) Resorts Three Tech Valley resorts were named to Travel + Leisure’s Top 500 Hotels in the world: The Point (top 10 North America), Mirror Lake Inn Resort & Spa and Lake Placid Lodge. (2006) Beekman Arns & Delamater Inn, Gideon Putnam Resort & Spa, Hotel Saranac at Paul Smith's College, Mohonk Mountain House, The Sagamore and The Thayer Hotel have all been named Historic Hotels of America by National Trust Historic Hotels of America. Restaurants American Bounty Restaurant, Escoffier Room, Jack's Oyster House and Ristorante Caterina de' Medici have all earned the prestigious Ivy Award fo excellence in food, service and overall hospitality by Restaurants & Institutions magazine. Skiing Whiteface was ranked the third best ski resort in the East by Ski Magazine. (2006) Sports Horse racing at Saratoga Race Course has been named one of the "101 Things Every Sports Fan Must Experience Before they Die" by ESPN. State Parks The National Sporting Goods Association presented New York with its National Gold Medal State Park Award for excellence in park and recreation administration and for outstanding service to patrons. (2003) Trails The American Hiking Society named the Red Trail in John Boyd Thacher State Park the best fitness trail in the country. (2005) Orange Heritage Trail and Wallkill Valley Rail Trail have been recognized as National Recreation Trails by the National Park Service.