UCLA Engineering
establishes Three
New Endowed Faculty Chairs
The UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied
Science has announced the establishment of three new endowed
faculty chairs — each made possible by a $1 million gift.
The new chairs will help the school strengthen the overall quality
of its teaching and research programs by attracting talented
faculty, who in turn will attract the brightest and most promising
students.
"We are extremely grateful for the generous support from
our alumni and friends that have made these new chairs possible,"
said Vijay K. Dhir, the school's dean. "By supporting outstanding
scholars who are world leaders in their fields, these new chairs
will enhance UCLA Engineering for many, many years to come."
The new chairs are the Charles P. Reames Endowed Chair in Electrical
Engineering; the Carol and Lawrence E. Tannas Jr. Endowed Chair
in Engineering; and the Wintek Endowed Chair in Electrical Engineering.
The endowed chairs are part of UCLA Engineering's Enhancing
Engineering Excellence (E3) initiative, a $100 million fundraising
effort that includes raising $10 million for endowed faculty
chairs, along with funds for endowed term chairs, graduate fellowships,
undergraduate scholarships, capital projects and diversity initiatives.
They are also part of UCLA's Ensuring Academic Excellence initiative,
a five-year effort aimed at generating $250 million in private
commitments specifically for the recruitment and retention of
the very best faculty and graduate students. The initiative
was launched in June 2004 and its goals include $100 million
to fund 100 new endowed chairs for faculty across campus.
Charles P. Reames Endowed
Chair in Electrical Engineering
The holder of the Reames Chair will be an outstanding scholar
and teacher in electrical engineering. The chair was made possible
by a gift from UCLA Engineering alumnus Charles P. Reames MS
'80, Ph.D. '85, who is the senior director of broadband systems
engineering at Broadcom Corp. He has been with the company since
1993 and previously served as Broadcom's director of modem technology
and director of cable and satellite systems.
The new endowed chair is, in part, a gift of thanks from Reames
for the school's early belief in his potential. When he initially
arrived at UCLA Engineering, Reames was awarded a fellowship
to support his graduate studies under the supervision of electrical
engineering professor Alan Willson.
"They had a lot of faith in me," Reames said, "and
this is an opportunity to return that favor."
Reames also said the chair is an investment in the country's
technological leadership for the future.
"Think about what has happened in the last 50 years in
electrical engineering, and try to imagine what is going to
happen in the next 50 years," he said. "How do we
not just keep pace but continue to lead the forefront of this
field over the next 50 years? I hope that the establishment
of this chair will help towards that end."
Carol and Lawrence E. Tannas
Jr. Endowed Chair in Engineering
The holder of the Tannas Chair will conduct research in electronic
information displays and associated areas. The chair was established
with a gift from alumnus Lawrence E. Tannas Jr. '59, MS '61,
a consultant in the electronic information display industry,
and his wife, Carol.
After receiving his master's degree, Tannas began his career
in the aerospace industry, working at several large engineering
corporations and specializing in advanced concepts in guidance,
control and navigation. For many years, he also taught engineering
courses at UCLA Extension.
Tannas is a fellow and past president of the Society for Information
Display, an international organization which had its origins
at UCLA. Most of his recent work has focused on the development
and application of resized LCDs for the aerospace industry.
"So many things matched," Tannas said about the couple's
decision to establish the chair at UCLA Engineering. "It
has been my primary home away from home and the primary place
for my intellectual and professional association. UCLA was the
focal point for many branch-points in our life and we are happy
this endowment is coming to fruition."
The Tannas' support for the school goes back many years. Their
gift supporting the new endowed chair was made possible through
a charitable lead trust, in the form of a piece of industrial
property. The school will receive funds generated by the trust
over a 10-year period.
Wintek Endowed Chair in
Electrical Engineering
The holder of the Wintek chair will be a distinguished and internationally
recognized faculty member in electrical engineering who has
made an impact on semiconductor devices and/or integrated circuit
technology development and applications. The chair was made
possible by the support of Hyley Huang, chairman of Wintek Corp.,
a Taiwan-based manufacturer of small-to-medium-sized LCD panels
used in digital cameras, cell phones, PDAs and video cameras.
"I appreciate the criticality of microelectronics technology
development and wanted to establish an endowed professorship
at a prominent U.S. university such as UCLA as a return of what
benefitted me from my U.S. learning experience," Huang
said.
Huang pioneered CMOS integrated circuits and LCD technology
in Taiwan and was one of the lead engineers in the monumental
CMOS technology transfer from RCA to Taiwan's Industrial Technology
Research Institute. Huang is also the parent of a UCLA sophomore
majoring in electrical engineering.
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