Utah State College Of Engineering Receives $1 Million From Micron Foundation For Micron Research Center

The Utah State University (USU) College of Engineering announced today that it will receive a total of $1 million over the next four years from the Micron Technology Foundation to create the Micron Research Center. The center will host research and instruction in the area of emerging hardware and software technologies, particularly in reconfigurable hardware technologies. The center will also train USU undergraduate and graduate students in engineering and science, exposing them to innovative research and a professional work environment.

“Micron looks forward to collaborating with Utah State for the development of next-generation technologies that drive global innovation,” said Brian Shirley, Micron vice president of memory. “The Micron Research Center will provide a unique opportunity for undergraduate students to be involved in research, further strengthening the university’s engineering and science platform and creating a pool of qualified and talented innovators for the microelectronics industry.”

Research will concentrate on solutions addressing reliability, communication, power and performance in memory device design and manufacturing. Research applications for today’s electronic devices include digital and video cameras, personal digital assistants, consumer electronics, defense and homeland security and aerospace applications.

Students associated with the Micron Research Center will take a variety of courses involving inter-chip communications, reconfigurable computing, digital image processing, digital signal processing, pattern recognition, mixed signal design and parallel processing. The Micron Research Center expects to involve 10 undergraduates, six masters and two doctoral students each year. As part of the donation for the center, undergraduate and graduate students will have an opportunity to apply for research scholarships and funding.

The center, the result of extended efforts by former department head, Tamal Bose, will draw on expertise from other university departments including physics, computer science, mathematics, biology and mechanical and aerospace engineering. The research center will be housed in the electrical and computer engineering department, located in the new David G. Sant Engineering Innovation Building when it is completed in Fall 2008.

USU has received strong support from the Micron Foundation in the past with a $100,000 donation in 2002 for the creation of the Micron Digital Systems Lab and another $100,000 donation in 2004 to create the Micron Imaging Laboratory. The Micron Foundation also annually donates scholarship money that is given to the best electrical and computer engineering students.

“Micron has been a great partner in helping the college of engineering teach and train students with the knowledge and skills they will need to create tomorrow’s technologies and services,” said Scott Hinton, the dean of the College of Engineering.