As part of its commitment to encourage scientific research, collaborate with academic leaders and aid higher education, Xerox Corporation announced it's support for 10 new research projects at leading universities in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
These contributions are among the Xerox Foundation's nearly $1 million annual contribution to fund research grants and its annual $13 million investment in support of educational and nonprofit initiatives.
The research grants are part of Xerox's University Affairs Committee program, which aims to advance science, technology and management research by promoting interaction between Xerox researchers and their counterparts at universities. The grants are designed to stimulate basic academic research in technologies of long-term importance to Xerox. Students and faculty aren't required to deliver a specific result, nor is the work proprietary to Xerox.
"The full range of technology found in Xerox products is being studied at universities as well as in our research labs, and this grants program helps strengthen the bridges between our organizations and our people, while advancing science at the same time," said Gregory Zack, chair of the University Affairs Committee. "Investing in the work of science and engineering students today may lead to their success as inventors at Xerox tomorrow."
Since the University Affairs Committee grant program started more than 20 years ago, Xerox has provided over $15 million for more than 300 research projects across a range of technical disciplines. Each year, about 40 projects are funded at 30 colleges and universities worldwide.
How grants are selected
Any college or university is eligible for funding but cannot apply for it directly; instead, a Xerox scientist or researcher prepares and presents a proposal to the University Affairs Committee, which includes researchers from across Xerox.
Awards are based on originality, technical merit, and quality of the researchers and institutions as well as relevance of the project to Xerox and the commitment of the Xerox employee to monitor progress.
The research is oriented toward basic science in a variety of fields, as opposed to next-generation technology related to document processing systems and software - which is the focus of Xerox's five global research and technology centers in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
The 10 new grants for spring 2006 will go to the following institutions:
- University of California-Berkeley
- University of California-Santa Barbara
- University of Maryland, Baltimore
- University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.
- University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.
- University of Windsor, Canada
- University of Toronto, Canada
- University of Bremen, Germany
- Lancaster University, United Kingdom
Xerox and educational support
Xerox contributes more than $2 million a year through a variety of educational programs, including University Affairs grants, Xerox's technical minority scholarships, scholarship support to more than 140 colleges and universities, and matching employees' gifts to educational institutions. Xerox people also help champion science in elementary schools by volunteering through the Xerox Science Consultants Program and by mentoring high-school FIRST robotics-competition teams.
A Chat with Kathy De Jong
Below is a chat with Kathy De Jong, a PDF version of the chat is available here.
Kathy De Jong, joined the Xerox Research Centre of Canada in 2005. She develops advanced organic materials for imaging applications in the Reprographic Materials Synthesis and Characterization Laboratory. Her research interests include molecular self-assembly, nanostructured soft materials and materials characterization. Her research activities have generated six scientific papers and two U.S. patents. De Jong received a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry and chemistry and a doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of Western Ontario. Her graduate research focused on nanoscale mechanical properties in biological systems, and as a post-doctoral fellow at Eli Lilly and Company, she studied protein stability and self-assembly of bio polymers. De Jong serves as the Xerox liaison on the University of Windsor (Ontario) research project titled "Developing design criteria for vertically self-aligning discogenic liquid crystalline molecules for high charge mobility organic electronic devices.
Q: Have you been involved with the University Affairs Committee program before?
A: I joined Xerox ten months ago, and this was my first opportunity to be involved with the Xerox University Affairs Committee.
Q: How did you choose to sponsor the University of Windsor project?
A: Selection of the University of Windsor for a UAC proposal was decided based on two fundamental criteria: people and program. A young professor at the University of Windsor, Holger Eichhorn, is well qualified in the area of organic electronics, which is of general mutual interest. He was educated as a synthetic dye and polymer chemist in Germany. He then became an expert in the synthesis and characterization of liquid crystals during his post-doctoral fellowship at the SOMS Centre (Leeds, England), which is one of the two pioneering liquid crystal research clusters worldwide, and at MIT. When contacted regarding a possible UAC research proposal, Dr. Eichhorn was especially enthusiastic and immediately set to work helping to draft an inventive, ambitious, yet manageable research proposal. Passion and enthusiasm are important factors when considering ambitious research activities!
At the University of Windsor, the synthetic and characterization facilities that are specialized in the investigation of materials Xerox is interested in, such as discotic liquid crystals, and are unique in Canada. A good teaching/research program coupled with an enthusiastic principal investigator is a winning combination!
Q: How did you work with the university to define the research topic and its boundaries?
A: Defining the research proposal topic and boundaries was a collaborative effort between Dr. Eichhorn and Xerox. Dr. Eichhorn presented his research goals and credible approaches to achieve them while we helped to flesh out the key objectivesÑmuch like choosing a destination and mapping out the road trip before departing.
Q: In what ways do you feel that you benefit personally from the collaboration?
A: Being involved in a research grant such as this UAC with Dr. Eichhorn is a wonderful opportunity for me, a new employee to Xerox, since it allows me to maintain interaction with the academic community, which is a critical resource for leading-edge research. Having been a graduate student and having observed industrial partnerships from that perspective, in some ways I am now on the other side of the fence. I value this opportunity to foster strong, healthy relationships with the academic community while expanding my knowledge base and developing my own technical skills in a new area of expertise.
Q: In what ways will Xerox benefit from the University of Windsor research?
A: Through this research activity, we will develop design criteria that are essential for the fundamental understanding of the new materials we are interested in. The interaction will allow Xerox researchers to solidify their fundamental knowledge in this field while gaining front-line access to the most recent developments. These may potentially be utilized later for more Xerox-specific applications, which can be further investigated in house. The interaction with the University of Windsor will also provide Xerox with a unique opportunity to recruit individuals highly-skilled in areas that are most relevant to our future research.
Q: Why doesn't Xerox do this research itself?
A: The UAC project focuses on an area that is addressed at the fundamental science level, the type of work that is ideally suited for academic institutions where resources are more specifically geared towards that type of research than they are in industrial research environments. As mentioned, based on this fundamental research Xerox could in the future decide to begin work in this area.
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