FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Arkansas has won a $2.1 million grant to train graduate students in high-technology fields through an innovative blend of course and field work.

The National Science Foundation awarded 21 Integrative Graduate Education Research and Training (IGERT) grants today in an initiative to generate new ways to train Ph.D. students who enter technological fields. This is the second year that NSF has provided these training grants, which are intended to produce scientists and engineers who are well-prepared for a broad spectrum of emerging career opportunities in industry, government and academe.

The other 20 institutions awarded IGERT grants include Carnegie Mellon University, University of California-Los Angeles, Case Western Reserve University, Brandeis University, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Johns Hopkins University, Pennsylvania State University, Iowa State University, City University of New York, University of Virginia, Purdue University, Montana State University, University of Missouri-Rolla, Washington State University, University of California-Davis, University of Oregon, Lehigh University, University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa and Iowa State University.

"Today’s companies are looking for broad technical knowledge and an ability to learn," said Ken Vickers, UA professor of physics and director of an interdisciplinary master’s degree program for engineering and science students in electronics and photonics. Vickers, who until recently was an engineering manager for Texas Instruments, understands firsthand the value of a graduate who can master new skills quickly.

University physics professor Greg Salamo added that "over the next five years, we hope to demonstrate that our program attracts diverse, outstanding graduate students, produces students who are highly sought after upon graduation, and most importantly develops students with creative and personal talents that are needed to make a difference in today’s high tech society."

Salamo, Vickers, and Len Schaper, director of the UA’s High Density Electronics Center (HiDEC), proposed creating an interdisciplinary program through HiDEC that would integrate different disciplines with the goal of training graduate students in aspects of research, development and fabrication of high performance miniaturized electronic devices. The graduate student experience will include working in a team setting, the business and industrial aspects of research, internships in industry and a chance to visit an overseas electronics center.

Speaking recently to the IGERT grantees about their projects, NSF director Rita Colwell said that "These areas clearly have great future potential, as will a new generation of broadly trained researchers who can work effectively across disciplines." Colwell indicated that the IGERT program is generating a culture change and new perspectives, for both students and faculty, on the role of researchers and their career opportunities.

The $2.1 million will be available over the next five years to support graduate student stipends and education experiences, said Schaper, principal investigator for the IGERT grant.

Graduates seeking employment in high technology firms need to know how to work in teams, how to solve a broad range of scientific problems and how their research fits into a business enterprise, Schaper said.

"A typical Ph..D. student has a very narrow, research focused program," Schaper said. "But there are lots of scientific problems to be worked on that are multidisciplinary."

Salamo credited the University faculty’s commitment to teaching, coupled with the successful interdisciplinary research results generated by HiDEC and state-of-the-art facilities in microphotonics-electronics, as three reasons the NSF awarded the grant to the University.

"The bottom line in competing for highly competitive awards is 'what have you produced?’" he said. "It’s not the money; it’s the track record. The telling story here is our publication list, measured not in quantity but in quality. This showed in our proposal."

Since 1993, HiDEC faculty have helped place graduates at jobs in companies such as Texas Instruments, Lucent Technologies, Intel and IBM.

The faculty involved in the interdisciplinary program will include professors in physics, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, computer engineering, mechanical engineering, business and graduate education.

Schaper said he hopes to have six to eight graduate students enter the program this fall.

"It’s going to be a very rich experience for these young men and women," Schaper said.

Faculty participants in the IGERT program include Schaper, Salamo and Vickers; Min Xiao, physics; Matt Gordon, mechanical engineering; Paul Thibado, physics; Simon Ang, electrical engineering; Kraig Olejniczak, electrical engineering; Hameed Naseem, electrical engineering; John Todd, business administration; William Brown, engineering; Rick Ulrich, chemical engineering; Laurent Bellaiche, physics; Ajay Malshe, mechanical engineering; Mitch Thornton, computer engineering; Sean Mulvenon, graduate education; Ronna Turner, graduate education; Magalene Taylor, sociology.

For information on the University of Arkansas program, see: www.uark.edu/depts/microep

For more details about IGERT see: http://www.nsf.gov/igert/

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