§ 3161. Terms occurring in laws, contracts or other documents. Upon the transfer pursuant to section thirty-one hundred fifty-six of this title of the functions and powers possessed by and all of the obligations and duties of the New York state office of science, technology and academic research as established pursuant to article ten-B of the executive law to the foundation as prescribed by section thirty-one hundred fifty-six of this title, whenever the New York state office of science, technology and academic research and the chairperson thereof, the functions, powers, obligations and duties of which are transferred to the foundation are referred to or designated in any law, contract or document pertaining to the functions, powers, obligations and duties transferred and assigned pursuant to this title, such reference or designation shall be deemed to refer to the foundation and its executive director. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, all rights and benefits, including terms and conditions of employment, and protection of civil service and collective bargaining of all employees affected by the transfer of the New York state office of science, technology and academic research to the foundation, shall be preserved and protected under the transfer, and all transferred employees and all persons employed by the foundation after the transfer, except for research and investigative high technology scientists, shall be considered for all purposes of article fourteen of the civil service law public employees in the civil service of the state and employees who are transferred shall remain in the same collective bargaining unit and any newly created positions shall be assigned to the appropriate collective bargaining unit as if they were employees of the state. For proposes of this section, the term "research and investigative high technology scientists" shall mean persons with an understanding of empirical methodologies, the ability to apply scientific knowledge to test theories, and possessing the expertise to make systematic observations of natural, empirical phenomena that can also be conveyed in a meaningful way to policymakers.