October 7, 2005
Gift supports Purdue's electrical and computer engineering
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University on Friday (Oct. 7) announced a gift to support a laboratory in a planned new electrical and computer engineering building near Discovery Park.
The College of Engineering received a pledge of $850,000 from the Jai N. Gupta Family Foundation to support a computational lab in the proposed $20 million, 41,020-square-foot building, to be named Seng-Liang Wang Hall, subject to ratification by the university's board of trustees. This brings to $1.5 million the Gupta family's support for the $1.5 billion Campaign for Purdue.
Patrick Wang, who in 2003 gave $5 million for the new building in honor of his father, and Jai Gupta are alumni of Purdue's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
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The announcement was made during the annual Engineering Dean's Club Luncheon in the Purdue Memorial Union Ballrooms.
"Electrical and computer engineering is one of Purdue's leading schools, yet its space is about half that of its top competitors, whether you measure it by our 85 faculty or by our 1,353 students," said Linda Katehi, the John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering. "If we consider it on the basis of our faculty size, it's the lowest space allocation in Purdue's College of Engineering. It is critical that we expand these facilities, and we are very grateful to our alumni who have stepped up to the challenge."
Research in the building's computational lab will be devoted to the theory, modeling and simulation of nano- and molecular electronic devices, and includes studies of how molecules conduct electricity and on structures called nanotubes and nanowires.
"Today our electrical and computer engineering faculty are housed in six different locations on campus," said Mark Smith, the Michael J. and Katherine R. Birck Professor and head of electrical and computer engineering. "The majority is located in the Electrical Engineering Building, a structure built in 1924 and last remodeled in 1941. Obviously, in the past six decades, technology and education have changed dramatically. This new facility will help us provide the world-class learning and research environment our students expect and deserve."
A campaign is under way to raise the $12 million balance for the new building. Part of the school's $110 million campaign goal, this is the most immediate priority. In addition to the computational lab, the new structure will have:
• Research facilities for 31 laboratories in the areas of energy sources and systems, circuit design, optics, biomedical imaging, and microelectronics.
• A commons area for students and space for student organizations.
• Offices for 24 faculty, 242 graduate students and eight technical staff.
Last year Gupta and his wife, Shashi, gave Purdue $650,000 for a professorship, named the Jai N. Gupta Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering. This professorship is partially funded through a Lilly Endowment program called the Initiative to Recruit and Retain Intellectual Capital for Indiana Higher Education Institutions. Through the Endowment's Faculty Endowment Challenge, Purdue has created 22 new endowed faculty positions on its campuses around the state and plans to add more.
Gupta of McLean, Va., earned a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering from Purdue in 1974. This year he received the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Outstanding Electrical and Computer Engineer Award.
He is the recently retired president of L-3 Communications Government Services Group in Chantilly, Va. Prior to heading this group, he was president of Government Services Inc., which he founded in 1979. Both companies combined state-of-the-art technology with professional services, which included systems to support the U.S. intelligence community and special operations forces.
Gupta's career highlights include the development of small launch vehicles and cargo recovery systems, which benefited both the communications and pharmaceutical industries. He is an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and is a past chairman of the International Society of Productivity Enhancement.
"Purdue's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering is one of the best in the world, and it provided me with an outstanding graduate program and research facility," Gupta said. "I want to provide the same opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students studying at Purdue and help keep and bring outstanding faculty to the university."
Patrick Wang of Hong Kong earned bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Purdue in 1972. He serves as the chairman and CEO of Johnson Electric, the world's largest manufacturer of the types of small motors used to power equipment such as hair dryers, electric toothbrushes and electric car windows. Wang was named a Purdue Outstanding Electrical and Computer Engineer in 1998, a Distinguished Engineering Alumnus in 2001 and received an honorary doctorate from Purdue in 2004. He also is a member of the university's President's Council.
Also announced at the luncheon was the completion of private fund raising for a $29 million mechanical engineering wing. The expansion, called the Roger B. Gatewood Wing of the Mechanical Engineering Building, will support 15 new mechanical engineering faculty, increase its research facilities and provide more classrooms for students.
Gatewood earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue in 1968 and is president of Westbay City Homes in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The announcements are part of a two-week celebration leading up to Purdue's Oct. 15 Homecoming. Events focus on ways Purdue is improving education and helping the state of Indiana as part of the university's strategic plan and $1.5 billion fund-raising campaign.
Writer: Cynthia Sequin, (765) 494-2073; csequin@purdue.edu
Sources: Linda Katehi, (765) 494-1871, katehi@purdue.edu
Mark Smith, (765) 494-3539, mjtsmith@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
Related Web sites:
Gift from Patrick Wang announced in 2003
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