College of Engineering Receives $1 Million Endowment

HONOLULU - The University of Hawai'i has announced the gift of a $1 million endowed professorship to the College of Engineering (COE) impart from Advanced Photonics Integrated Circuits (APIC) through the University of Hawai'i Foundation (UHF). APIC has pledged to give $500,000 and assist the university in raising $500,000 more.

Finalized in a meeting in Los Angeles two weeks ago UH President Evan Dobelle said "I'd like to thank APIC for recognizing and supporting such a dynamic program. The School of Engineering is a solid leader in the field of photonics and this important gift will ensure UH continues to advance photonics research and development both nationally and internationally."

APIC's Chairman of the Board Bahar Dutt emphasized the company's enthusiasm about doing business in Hawai'i. "We are very excited about working in Hawai'i and especially about working so closely with the University of Hawai'i. Building a major photonics prototyping facility with world class equipment and tools will create a foothold for large volume commercial technology development in Hawai'i."

APIC created the professorship, tentatively called the photonics professorship, in collaboration with UHF, the faculty of COE and UH Manoa's Institute for Astronomy. The intent of the professorship is to establish an electro-optics and adaptive optics program that will generate cutting-edge research on photonics. According to UHF President Betsy Sloane "This gift will help strengthen a key area of scientific research vital to the university."

"APIC and the University of Hawai'i make a great team and we are very proud to support research and education in this way," said APIC President James Chan. "UH is on the cutting-edge of optical and laser technology which can provide our organization with the strong research capabilities necessary to be a leader in the industry of photonics."

In addition to the professorship, APIC's senior engineers will assist in developing curriculum and implementing courses at UH. APIC will also provide the university with an additional $100,000 to support research projects in exchange for specific work preformed by faculty and students at the COE.

"An endowed professorship is truly a mark of distinction for our College of Engineering, and represents a major investment in excellence, research and innovation for UH Manoa," said UH Manoa Chancellor Peter Englert. "This relationship with APIC is an expression of their confidence in the quality of our faculty and our graduate and undergraduate students as well."

UH Manoa Dean of Engineering Wai-Fah Chen notes that APIC's support will enable the COE to continue moving towards establishing itself as one of the top engineering schools in the nation. "The knowledge and expertise of our faculty combined with APIC's resources and business savvy will make for a powerful partnership that will position our program among the best in the country. We are honored to be part of this team."

As part of the partnership, APIC has also guaranteed the university faculty and students will have access to a new photonics laboratory to be built in Kaka'ako. The facility will consist of a photonics clean room with the ability to fabricate silicon and silicon on insulator based devices, and package photonics and microelectromechanical-based chips. Undergraduate students will be able to use the facility for course work and experimentation for the cost of materials only. Faculty and graduate students use of the facility will be at cost, per government federal accounting regulations. All photonics processing work will be done by APIC.