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Media Advisory 15-018
Capitol Hill event: 30 years of NSF Engineering Research Centers
Media invited to a Hill reception featuring engineering and scientific leaders to commemorate achievements in research, education and technological innovation
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From surgical robots and an earthquake-damage assessment tool to fingerprint readers and MP3 recording technology, innovations developed through the Engineering Research Centers program have created economic and societal improvements. NSF estimates the economic value of ERC-derived products and processes is in the tens of billions of dollars.
For example, in the early 2000s, a graduate student at the ERC for Wireless Integrated Microsystems developed an all-silicon alternative to quartz-based timing systems inside electronic devices. The startup Michael McCorquodale founded in 2004, Mobius Microsystems, would go on to be a leader in all-silicon clock generation technology used in cellphones, USB ports and other devices.
Credit: NSF Engineering Research Center for Wireless Integrated MicroSystems, University of Michigan
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