UNM officials announced the creation of the Public Service New Mexico Chair in microsystems, commercialization and technology last week.
PNM funded the endowed chair in 1985. Under a new agreement, the funds will be used to recruit and support a faculty member in The Anderson Schools of Management and the School of Engineering with a focus on microsystems, which refers to specialized computers and small networks; and commercialization, the entire spectrum of creating microsystems technology and making it marketable.
"The primary focus area of the PNM Foundation is education, not only for its own sake, but with a goal of developing an economic climate that will offer talented New Mexicans a reason to stay here," Barbara Barsky, president of the PNM Foundation, said in a news release. "We are proud to have our name on this chair and to help foster the microsystems industry in New Mexico by providing for its study at UNM."
The configuration of the chair - a joint appointment between two schools at the University - offers a unique advantage, said Joseph Cecchi, dean of the School of Engineering, in a news release.
"Through the joint appointment of the chair there will be enhanced opportunities for both faculty and students in the School of Engineering to be exposed to and participate in the commercialization of microsystems technology," Cecchi said. "This will come about from new courses which incorporate both technological and commercialization issues, new research in these fields, and possible `clinical' involvement in actual commercialization activities."
Howard Smith, dean of the Anderson Schools of Management, said in a news release that the business school is looking forward to collaborating with the engineering department.
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"New Mexico is fast becoming one of the nation's leaders in microsystems technology," he said. "Microsystems is one of the seven areas of economic development potential for the Middle Rio Grande region, identified by the Next Generation Economy initiative, and Sandia National Laboratories has been recognized as a world leader in microsystems. These opportunities are leading to new business and economic development and we are pleased to partner with PNM to make certain that our graduates emerge with the skill set needed to create successful business enterprises in the New Economy."
Cecchi said that UNM is uniquely poised to make a difference in microsystems.
"At the conference on the Southwest as a Region of Innovation held in Albuquerque last summer, the consensus was that integrated microsystems will play a unique, important, and hugely commercial role in a broad range of fields from nuclear weapons to automobiles to telecommunications to biomedicine," he said. "It was also clear to the experts on the panels that the Southwest has a significant strategic advantage in this technology, with particular focus on the unique capabilities of Sandia and the companies located here."
The PNM Chair in microsystems, commercialization and technology is one of 17 endowed chairs across disciplines at UNM. A national search to fill the chair will take place during the next year, with the goal of a new faculty hire by fall 2002.
The endowed funds of the PNM chair are maintained by the UNM Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides private funding support to the University. The current endowment exceeds $151 million.
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