SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY : UC Irvine Named Headquarters for Computing Center
UC Irvine will be the headquarters for a new cooperative research center that will study a field of computing known as high-speed image and signal processing.
The center is a joint project of UCI, UC Santa Barbara, the National Science Foundation and private industry. It is funded by a a five-year grant worth a total of $500,000 from the NSF.
The center will focus on how computers can more closely mimic the human brain in processing images and signals at very high speeds.
“This center establishes a mutually beneficial program that provides a means for collective sponsorship of the kind of large-scale, basic research that individual companies may not be willing or able to support on their own,” said David Schetter, director of the Office of University/Industry Research & Technology at UCI.
“The underlying objective is to increase the overall competitiveness of U.S. industry.
The center will focus on research in areas such as the analysis of images for oil exploration, radar and sonar sensors, data compression and transmission, computer graphics and image display, electronics, robotics and automation. About 20 research projects are scheduled for 1991-1992.
Co-directors are Leonard Ferrari, chairman of UCI’s electrical and computer engineering department, and Glen Wade, professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering at UC Santa Barbara.
Industrial partners include Hughes Aircraft Co., Rockwell International Corp., Loral Aeronutronic, Interstate Electronics, Valid Logic Systems, Western Digital Corp., Naval Ocean System Center and McDonnell Douglas Space Systems Co. Each partner contributes $25,000 a year, in exchange for rights to new technologies developed at the center.
