Gregory Olsen, president and CEO of Sensors Unlimited, Inc. and a 1971 Ph.D. graduate of the Engineering School, has pledged a $15 million dollar gift to the materials science department of the Engineering School.
The majority of the gift will be used to construct a building connecting material science to the chemical engineering building. The new building will be named in honor of one of Olsen's mentors, Heinz Wilsdorf, and his wife Doris Kuhlmann-Wilsdorf. Heinz Wilsdorf was the University's first materials science chairman.
The building is expected to open by the spring of 2004.
"I wanted [material sciences] to continue as a strong department. The product of the University should be state-of-the-art students and facilities," Olsen said.
The remaining $1 million will be allocated for discretionary funds. Possible uses include creating larger stipends to attract students, bringing in more faculty members and buying new equipment, Materials Science Chairman William A. Jesser said.
Ranked in the low 20s by the National Research Council, the materials science department hopes Olsen's gift will push the department into the top 5 or 10 percent in its field. To do that, "you have to have the facilities, quality students and faculty," Jesser said. "This gift removes the shackles from us [because of limited state budget problems] to entice the best students and faculty."
Engineering School Dean Richard W. Miksad said, "this is probably the most important gift we've received since I've been at the University. Adding space will enable more collaborative projects between departments in the Engineering School as well as other schools within the University, so [the money] is not restricted to the Engineering School."
Since graduating almost 30 years ago, Olsen has kept close ties with the department he claimed without which "he would not be where he is today."
Faculty still hold Olsen in high esteem as one of the University's most successful alumni.
"People have, in my opinion, a success trait that you can recognize in them ... They're going to succeed in whatever they do, and Greg [Olsen] is one of these types of people," Jesser said. Olsen was his first Ph.D. candidate and founded fiber optics firm Epitaxx in 1984 and Sensors Unlimited in 1991.
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