Erie Community Colleges efforts to launch a new degree program in nanotechnology received a major boost Tuesday with a state grant of $5.75 million.

The grant, announced by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in Syracuse, will allow the college to renovate a North Campus building and buy costly equipment used in nanotechnology training.

College officials hope to begin offering courses toward a new associates degree in nanotechnology in spring 2015.

Nanotechnology involves controlling and manipulating supersmall particles to create new products and processes in advanced manufacturing, according to the National Nanotechnology Initiative.

Working at the nanoscale one nanometer is a billionth of a meter manufacturers can take advantage of the unique physical, chemical, mechanical and optical properties of materials that naturally occur at that scale.

Nanotechnology, for example, is a key component in the creation of ever-faster computer chips.

College and state officials said the program would produce a trained workforce to take advantage of new opportunities at the RiverBend project and high-tech research and development positions at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

College officials were still waiting for approval from the state Education Department about their proposal for the new degree program, which would enroll about 50 new students per year.

We anticipate that we should hear this fall, said Richard C. Washousky, executive vice president of academic affairs at ECC.

The State University of New York gave its approval about a month ago, he said.

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Nanotech at ECC gets boost from state