Nearly $18 million will help build a new primary laser at the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics.

Officials say that the federal investment will enable U of R to design and prototype key technologies over the next three years.

Senator Chuck Schumer says it will help keep the country ahead of foreign competition in science innovation and boost local tech leaders.

“Rochester is building on its legacy and charging forward as a global leader in the future of the laser industry, which is vital to our national security and can revolutionize our quest for both clean energy," said Schumer. "This award is the critical first step needed to design and advance UR’s proposal to build a new state-of-the-art laser right here in Rochester, leveraging the talent of LLE’s over 400 employees [to] push the frontiers of U.S. scientific research for decades to come.”

The investment into the third laser is said to be the most powerful laser in the world once completed.