$4 million from state also will pay for centers of economic excellence

By Anna Simon
CLEMSON BUREAU

CLEMSON -- Clemson University received $4 million from the state Monday to add two endowed chairs and centers of economic excellence.

A new Cyber-Institute Center of Economic Excellence combines Clemson's computer and electrical engineering expertise with growing computing power to enhance competitiveness in research areas that rely on storing, processing and transmitting large amounts of data.

The new endowed chair will be a faculty member in the department of electrical and computer engineering but will report to Clemson's vice provost for computing and information technology.

A new Center of Economic Excellence in Optoelectronics will further strengthen Clemson's photonics research program in the Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies and enable Clemson to recruit a world-class faculty leader to the state and to the collaborative research environment in Clemson's electrical and computer engineering department.

The $4 million from the South Carolina Endowed Chairs Review Board must be matched.

Clemson also was included in a $5 million funding package that supports a Center of Economic Excellence in Advanced Tissue Biofabrication led by the Medical University of South Carolina with endowed chairs at MUSC, Clemson and the University of South Carolina. The center will focus on vascular regeneration as a basis for tissue generation.