Auburn Wireless Program Receives $3.15 Million Vodafone Grant

Auburn University is one of three universities selected nationwide to receive nearly $3.2 million in funding for its wireless engineering program through the Vodafone-US Foundation Fellows Initiative according to an announcement by Larry Benefield, dean of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering.

The five-year grant will be used for undergraduate scholarships, graduate fellowships and course and laboratory development. The University of California at Berkeley and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign were also named as grant recipients.

"The competition for this award was tough," says Benefield. "It included 14 of the nation's top 25 engineering schools. To be one of the three programs selected is testament to the strength of our wireless efforts."

The focal point for Auburn's activities centers on its Wireless Engineering Research and Education Center (WEREC), which is building on a $25 million gift from Auburn alumnus Samuel Ginn to develop a cutting-edge program in wireless engineering. A key element has been the creation of an undergraduate wireless degree program - the first of its kind in the nation.

The wireless engineering degree is offered through two departments within Auburn's College of Engineering - Computer Science and Software Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering - with hardware, software and network options.

"We began enrolling students in the wireless program in Fall 2002," says Dick Jaeger, distinguished university professor of electrical and computer engineering and the center's interim director. "The response has been strong. We intend to use the grant to maintain and build on this momentum."

Although the center is administered through the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, WEREC plans to integrate activities of faculty from a wide range of disciplines, including computer science and software engineering, industrial and systems engineering and mechanical engineering as well as physics, math and business.

This multidisciplinary effort also serves as an adjunct to the Information Technology component of Auburn University's Peaks of Excellence. The peaks programs provide additional resources to areas of research that have the potential to be economic drivers for the state and the region, according to Wayne Johnson, a member of the electrical and computer engineering faculty and director of the Information Technology Peak.

"The interplay between the wireless engineering program and the information technology peak will provide a number of avenues to enhance the ability of our faculty to attract research funding," Dean Benefield points out. "It also provides an unmatched educational experience at both the undergraduate and graduate levels."

"The Vodafone-US Foundation grant, when combined with our current efforts, is going to ensure that we attract the top students from around the world to our wireless program," says Richard Chapman of the computer science and software engineering faculty.

"Wireless is a global enterprise, and as such we must look to be a leader not only in Alabama but also in the world."

The Vodafone-US Foundation, located in Walnut Creek, California, annually gives over $1 million generally to the San Francisco Bay Area. This is Vodafone-US Foundation's first major initiative involving higher educational institutions.

Vodafone is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications network companies with operations in 28 countries, over 60,000 employees and 100 million customers worldwide.

-- submitted by Cheryl Cobb