University of Tennessee College of Engineering Receives Research Support Gift from II-VI Incorporated Foundation
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| COE Senior Development Director Dorothy Bryson (front) accepts the II-VI gift from Richard W. Purnell and Dr. Carl Johnson (center, behind Bryson). |
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The first-ever gift from II-VI Incorporated Foundation to support university research was presented May 6, 2008 at the University of Tennessee. Dr. Carl J. Johnson, Chairman of II-VI Inc. and Richard W. Purnell, Executive Director of II-VI Incorporated Foundation were in Knoxville to present the award.
The foundation was created in May 2007 to foster improvements in the fields of science and mathematics and to encourage young people to pursue a degree in engineering, science and mathematics.
"This gift is exciting to us because it will enable students to work directly on a project, framing the questions, encountering problems and working out solutions for a timely research experience that prepares them to tackle similar problems that they will face once they begin their industrial careers," said Johnson.
The COE funds will support research and development in High-Temperature Integrated Electronics & Power Electronics for Hybrid Electric Vehicles. This will give both undergraduate and graduate students in the Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science the opportunity to conduct research-providing excellent learning opportunities and experiences.
Drs. Leon Tolbert (far left in photo), Syed Kamrul Islam (left in photo) and Ben Blalock (far right in photo) will direct the students in their research.
"This gift makes it possible for us to have a concerted effort in developing high-temperature tolerant electronics that will have applications in future hybrid electric vehicles, inverters for solar panels and fuel cells and down-hole drilling apparatus.
We expect commercial companies will be interested in licensing the technology that we develop," said Tolbert.
For more information, contact Kim Cowart at (865) 974-0686/kcowart@utk.edu or Jay Mayfield at (865) 974-9409/jay.mayfield@tennessee.edu.