by Allen D. Lowaton

USAID-STRIDE gives research grant to Electronics Engineering faculty

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) – Science, Technology, Research and Innovation for Development (STRIDE) has awarded a research grant to the Microelectronics Lab (MicroLab) of the Electrical/Electronics and Computer Engineering Department. This is MSU-IIT’s first time to receive such grant.

Professor Jefferson A. Hora, the principal investigator of the project and EECE Department Chair attended the awarding ceremony at Makati Diamond Hotel, Makati City.

The ceremony was attended by respective industry partners of the grantees, the academe, government representatives, USAID-STRIDE officials and from the media. Philip S. Goldberg, US Ambassador to the Philippines gave the keynote speech during the awarding ceremony.

Prof. Hora, chosen to speak on behalf of the grantees said in part: the passion, will, and determination of every Filipino Engineer and Scientist to contribute to nation building will have no worth if there is no action taken. Thank you, USAID-STRIDE for the opportunity to strengthen the R&D of this country and to realize our dream for the future that Philippines which will also be known as IC Design Hub of Asia, hence, will eventually spur economic growth for our nation.

The project entitled “Optimized chip implementation of indoor energy harvesting for sensor network and battery recharging” is spearheaded by Prof. Hora as the principal investigator with Prof. Chinet Mocorro, the Electrical Engineering Technology (ELET) Department Chair as the project assistant. The said project will run from May 1, 2015 to April 30, 2016.

This research grant allows for the extension of the licenses of the integrated circuits (IC) design tools currently being used by the MicroLab. With this, the MicroLab continues to operate as the Virtual Center of Microelectronics in Mindanao recognized by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

Topics : USAID-STRIDE