Scientists have long known that light can interact with certain metals and can be

captured in the form of plasmons, which are collective, ultra-fast oscillations of

electrons that can be manipulated at the nano-scale. The so-called quantum plasmon
modes have been theoretically predicted to occur at atomic length scales. However,
current state-of-the-art fabrication techniques can only reach length scales that are about
five nanometre larger, therefore quantum-plasmon effects have been difficult to
investigate.
In this landmark study, the research team demonstrated that quantum-plasmonics
is possible at length scales that are useful for real applications. Researchers successfully
fabricated an element of a molecular electronic circuit using two plasmonic resonators,
which are structures that can capture light in the form of plasmons, bridged by a layer
of molecules that is exactly one molecule thick. The layer of molecules switches on the
quantum plasmonic tunneling effects, enabling the circuits to operate at terahertz
frequencies.
Dr Bosman used an advanced electron microscopy technique to visualise and
measure the opto-electronic properties of these structures with nanometer resolution.
The measurements revealed the existence of the quantum plasmon mode and that its
speed could be controlled by varying the molecular properties of the devices.
By performing quantum-corrected simulations, Dr Bai confirmed that the quantum
plasmonic properties could be controlled in the molecular electronic devices at
frequencies 10,000 times faster than current processors.
Explaining the significance of the findings, Asst Prof Nijhuis said, We are very
excited by the new findings. Our team is the first to observe the quantum plasmonic
tunneling effects directly. This is also the first time that a research team has
demonstrated theoretically and experimentally that very fast-switching at optical
frequencies are indeed possible in molecular electronic devices.

The results open up possible new design routes for plasmonic-electronics that
combines nano-electronics with the fast operating speed of optics.
Further research
To further their research, Asst Prof Nijhuis and his team will look into resolving
the challenges that are presented in the course of their work, such as the integration of
these devices into real electronic circuits. They are also following up with new ideas
that are developed from these results.
 A focused electron beam (in yellow) was used to characterise the structures and to
probe the optical properties of two plasmonic resonators bridged by a layer of molecules
with a length of 0.5 nm. (Image credit: Tan Shu Fen, National University of Singapore)

http://www.science.nus.edu.sg/press-releases/890-scientists-in-singapore-develop-novel-ultra-fast-
electrical-circuits-using-light-generated-tunneling-currents
Scientists in Singapore develop novel ultra-fast electrical circuits using light-generated tunneling
currents

Neubiberg and Dresden, Germany April 2, 2014 One of the most important
European research projects focused on energy efficiency was launched today at
Infineon Technologies in Dresden. The objective of the three-year project eRamp is to
strengthen and expand Germany and Europe as centers of expertise for the manufacture
of power electronics. 26 research partners from six countries are participating. Infineon,
the world market leader in power semiconductors, is leading the Euro 55 million project.
20144ENIAC5500eRampInfineon26
The project partners will join policymakers and representatives from the projects
sponsors at the two-day eRamp kickoff event (April 2-3, 2014). Dr. Reinhard Ploss
CEO of Infineon Technologies AG, will start off the event by meeting with Sabine von
Schorlemer, Saxon State Minister for Higher Education, Research and the Fine Arts;
Prof. Wolf-Dieter Lukas, department head at the BMBF (German Federal Ministry of
Education and Research), the largest national sponsor; and with Dr. Andreas Wild,
Executive Director of ENIAC Joint Undertaking, the funding provider of the European
Union.
The research results from eRamp will be an important contribution to even more
efficiently use energy, says Dr. Reinhard Ploss, CEO of Infineon Technologies AG.
Europe and Germany are distinguished by their characteristic knowledge and expertise.
The partners in the eRamp project have the entire power electronics value creation chain
in mind, from generation and transmission all the way to consumption of electric energy.
Together we will create new knowledge and thus new products that will mean economic
and ecological progress for Europe.
InfineonRamp
BMBF department head Prof. Wolf-Dieter Lukas adds: Power electronics is a key
technology and a determining factor in the competitive ability of fundamental industry
sectors in Germany and Europe. The cooperative approach of the European
Commission and the German federal government in funding eRamp is a clear example
of the benefits of joint action in Europe.
BMBFRamp
The eRamp project, led by Infineon Technologies Dresden, brings the European
industry for power electronics components to the forefront of innovation, with
considerable impact on important areas of industry and everyday life, such as energy
efficiency, electromobility, medicine and many more, says Dr. Andreas Wild,
Executive Director of ENIAC Joint Undertaking.
ENIACRamp
When examined closely, most of the innovations with which German companies
have succeeded in the world market are ultimately innovations in electronics and/or
software. This applies to the automotive industry, mechanical engineering, medical
technology and environmental technologies. Therefore we must not let ourselves
become dependent on non-European manufacturers in microelectronics, observes
Sabine von Schorlemer, Saxon State Minister for Higher Education, Research and the
Fine Arts, also responsible for technology policy issues.
eRamp strengthens Germany and Europe as established centers of expertise for
power electronics manufacturing
eRamp research activities will focus on the rapid introduction of new production
technologies and further exploration of chip packaging technologies for power
semiconductors. The German project partners will investigate and develop new
methods for speeding up the start of the production run.
In order to investigate research results for practical viability exactly where the new
production technologies will be implemented, the German research partners will use
existing pilot lines and comprehensive production expertise at various German sites,
including Dresden (Infineon: power semiconductors based on 300mm wafers),
Reutlingen (Bosch: power semiconductors, smart power and sensors based on 200mm
wafers) and Regensburg (Infineon: chip packaging technologies for power
semiconductors). Infineon, Osram and Siemens will work together closely to research
and construct testing equipment and demonstrators for the evaluation of newly
developed chip embedding technologies.
eRampInfineonOsram
In Germany, the Technical University of Dresden and West Saxon University of
Applied Sciences Zwickau are also participating in research. In addition to Bosch,
Infineon, Osram and Siemens, German business is represented by the companies
SYSTEMA Dresden, an IT specialist vendor for automation in the manufacturing
industry, HSEB Dresden, provider of optical inspection, review and installation, and
SGS INSTITUT FRESENIUS, a leading vendor of chemical and physical laboratory
analysis.
More energy efficiency through power electronics
Power electronics includes electronic components and the chips built into them,
so-called power semiconductors. Power semiconductors help keep the loss of electrical
energy as low as possible. They make sure that the greatest possible amount of energy
generated by wind or the sun is fed into the power grid and transmitted almost
completely without loss over many thousands of kilometers from the generation site to
the consumer. They then also help minimize power consumption in a wide variety of
applications, e.g. in household appliances, illumination technologies, servers and
computers, in hybrid and electric drive systems for cars, commercial vehicles,
construction and agricultural machines as well as in industrial energy technologies and
production facilities.
eRamp: A strong team with 26 research partners from six countries
The research partners in the eRamp project are (in alphabetical order): AMS AG
(Unterpremstatten, Austria), CISC Semiconductor GmbH (Klagenfurt, Austria), HSEB
Dresden GmbH (Dresden, Germany), Infineon Technologies (Germany: Dresden,
Regensburg, Munich; Villach, Austria and Bucharest, Romania), JOANNEUM
RESEARCH Forschungsgesellschaft GmbH (Graz, Austria), Lantiq (Villach, Austria),
Materials Center Leoben Forschung GmbH (Leoben, Austria), NXP Semiconductors
(Gratkorn, Austria and Eindhoven, Netherlands), Osram GmbH (Munich), Polymer
Competence Center Leoben GmbH (Leoben, Austria), Robert Bosch GmbH (Stuttgart,
Germany), SGS INSTITUT FRESENIUS (Taunusstein, Germany), Siemens AG
(Berlin, Munich), SPTS Technologies Ltd (Newport, UK), Stichting IMEC Nederland
(Eindhoven, Netherlands), SYSTEMA Systementwicklung Dipl.-Inf. Manfred Austen
GmbH (Dresden), Slovak University of Technology (Bratislava, Slovakia), Technical
University Vienna and University of Innsbruck (both in Austria) as well as Technical
University Dresden and the West Saxon University of Applied Sciences, Zwickau
(Germany).
The Project eRamp is co-funded by grants from ENIAC Joint Undertaking and
from Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia und the UK.

http://www.infineon.com/cms/en/corporate/press/news/releases/2014/INFXX201404-033.html
European Research: Launch of Infineon-Led Key Project eRamp to Strengthen the European
Electronics Industry

Tata Steel has formed a strategic partnership with the prominent UK research body,
the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), to develop a range
of innovations that will include graphene-coated steels and next-generation sensors that
can operate in extreme environments.
20144EPSRCTata Steel
The research will include studying the viability of coating steel strip with graphene,
a one atom thick carbon layer whose properties include anti-corrosion and a high degree
of electrical conductivity. Graphene coated steels could boost the energy efficiency of
solar panels, or make buildings longer-lasting by reducing damage caused by water or
even the most corrosive of chemicals.
Also among the key research areas will be ways to improve waste recycling
processes and the development of new sensor equipment whose ability to operate in
very high temperatures or extreme chemical environments could lead to greater
understanding of metallurgical and chemical properties and processes.

The research partnership with the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research
Council (EPSRC) will give Tata Steel access to a wider network of world-class experts,
enhancing its research and development activities.
The partners will work together on long-term research, postgraduate training and
knowledge exchange in a number of different pre-defined areas.
Tata Steel
A research partnership agreement was signed earlier this month in the presence of
the Rt Hon Vince Cable, the UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills,
and the Chief Executive of Tata Steels European operations, Karl Koehler. It outlines
ways in which Tata Steel and EPSRC can maximise the benefits from engaging British
universities in research projects.
Debashish Bhattacharjee, Group Director for R&D at Tata Steel, said: Our
customers want us constantly to develop new and more sophisticated products that will
help them overcome their challenges, now and in the future. We also need to develop
new manufacturing processes to support product development. Our partnership with
EPSRC will broaden and enhance our research capabilities, helping to speed up the
achievement of these objectives.
Tata SteelTata Steel
Professor David Delpy, EPSRC Chief Executive, said: EPSRC is proud to be
working in partnership with Tata Steel and this agreement will strengthen the
relationship further. Research across our portfolio has significant impacts in areas in
which Tata Steel operates. The company is already investing in joint research projects
with UK universities and Centres for Doctoral Training. These relationships will
develop the processes and people the UK needs to perform well in the scientific and
economic arena.
EPSRCTata SteelTata Steel

http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/newsevents/news/2014/Pages/extremeconditions.aspx
EPSRC and Tata Steel form new research partnership

At St. Pauls Cathedral in London, a section of the dome called the Whispering
Gallery makes a whisper audible from the other side of the dome as a result of the way
sound waves travel around the curved surface. Researchers at Washington University
in St. Louis have used the same phenomenon to build an optical device that may lead
to new and more powerful computers that run faster and cooler.
Lan Yang, PhD, associate professor of electrical and systems engineering, and her
collaborators have developed an essential component of these new computers that
would run on light. Their work brings predictions from recently formulated theoretical
physics into real world applications.
The results of their research appear April 6 in Nature Physics.
201446-
Yangs group has created an optical diode by coupling tiny doughnut shaped optical
resonators one with gain and the other with loss on a silicon chip. This diode is
capable of completely eliminating light transmission in one direction and greatly
enhancing light transmission in the other nonreciprocal light transmission, says Bo
Peng, a graduate student in Yangs group and the papers lead author.
-PT
 An electrical diode prevents electricity from backflow along a wire providing
protection to crucial parts of an electronic circuit or processor; an optical diode does
the same thing with light.
We believe that our discovery will benefit many other fields involving electronics,
acoustics, plasmonics and meta-materials, Yang says. Coupling of so-called loss and
gain devices using PT (parity-time)-symmetry could enable such advances as cloaking
devices, stronger lasers that need less input power, and perhaps detectors that could see
a single atom.
PT
The principle of PT-symmetry is based upon mathematical theories advanced by
Carl M. Bender, PhD, the Wilfred R. and Ann Lee Konneker Distinguished Professor
of Physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University.
Simply put, when a lossy system is coupled with a gain system such that loss of
energy exactly equals gain at an equilibrium point, a phase transition occurs.
B. PENG, S.K. OZDEMIR, AND L. YANG/ WUSTL
Coupled microresonators with balanced loss and gain form a parity-time
symmetric system. Under parity-reflection transformation, the resonators are
interchanged; under time-reversal transformation, loss becomes gain and gain becomes
loss. Breaking this symmetry leads to lossless nonlinearity-based nonreciprocal light
transmission. Resonators are in the shape of toroids, one of which has gain and
fabricated from erbium-doped silica film prepared by sol-gel process while the other
has loss and fabricated from silica (no dopant).
Applying the principles of PT symmetry leads optics to a completely different set
of behaviors not predicted by conventional physics with only loss or only gain. The
phenomena that occur at the phase transition are dramatic and hitherto unexpected,
Yang says.
To make their optical diode, Sahin Kaya Ozdemir, PhD, a research scientist in
Yangs group and a key contributor to the paper, and Peng used two micro-resonators
positioned so that light can flow from one to the other. One device is the lossy silica
resonator.
The other incorporates the chemical element erbium into the silica structure for
gain. Ozdemir says when erbium interacts with light of wavelength 1450 nm, it emits
photons in the wavelength 1550 nm. A transmission detector set for 1550 nm will see
a gain from this erbium-containing resonator.
 When the rate of gain in one resonator exactly equals that of loss in the other, the
phase transition occurs at a critical coupling distance between the resonators.
Most significantly, PT symmetry is broken, and the system shows a strong
nonlinear behavior even at very weak input powers- input light gains intensity with a
very steep non-linear slope. As a result, time reversal symmetry is broken and light is
able to move in only one direction forward says Yang.
Time reversal symmetry is a fundamental physical rule that states that if light can
travel in one direction, it must be able to travel in the opposite direction too. With this
new optical diode, this is no longer the case, says Ozdemir. Engineers traditionally use
magneto-optics and high magnetic fields to break time reversal symmetry, here we do
this using strong nonlinearity enabled by broken PT symmetry. With an input of only 1
microwatt, we show 17-fold enhancement of light transmission in one direction. There
is no transmission in the other direction. Such a performance would not be possible
without the use of resonant structures and PT-symmetric concepts.
Our resonators are small enough to use in computers and future optical
information processors. At present, we built our optical diodes from silica, which has
very little material loss at the telecommunication wavelength. The concept can be
extended to resonators made from other materials to enable easy CMOS compatibility.
Peng says.
CMOS
More broadly, our paper shows how a concept with its roots in mathematical
physics can be utilized to provide solutions to practical problems, opening new
possibilities for controlling and manipulating light on-chip, the team says. PT-
symmetry breaking alone is not sufficient to have nonreciprocal response; operation in
the nonlinear regime is also necessary. In the linear regime, light transmission is always
reciprocal regardless of whether PT-symmetry is broken or not, cautions the team.
Yang and Ozdemir believe that the PT concept can be extended to electronics,
acoustics and other fields to create one-way channels, and photonic devices with
advanced functionalities, and they are already working on new experiments relying on
PT-symmetry.
Peng B, Ozdemir S, Lei F, Monifi F, Gianfreda M, Long G, Fan S, Nori F, Bender
C, Yang L. Parity-time-symmetric whispering gallery microcavities. Nature Physics,
April 6, 2014, advance online publication. DOI: 10.1038/NPHYS2927.
Funding for this research was provided by the Army Research Office and the U.S.
Department of Energy.
The School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St.
Louis focuses intellectual efforts through a new convergence paradigm and builds on
strengths, particularly as applied to medicine and health, energy and environment,
entrepreneurship and security. With 82 tenured/tenure-track and 40 additional full-time
faculty, 1,300 undergraduate students, 700 graduate students and more than 23,000
alumni, we are working to leverage our partnerships with academic and industry
partners across disciplines and across the world to contribute to solving the greatest
global challenges of the 21st century.

http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/26759.aspx
Groundbreaking optical device could enhance optical information processing, computers

Call it the ultimate auto-pilot - an automated system that can help take care of all
phases of aircraft flight-even perhaps helping pilots overcome system failures in-flight.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will in May detail a
new program called Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) that
would build upon what the agency called the considerable advances that have been
made in aircraft automation systems over the past 50 years, as well as the advances
made in remotely piloted aircraft automation, to help reduce pilot workload, augment
mission performance and improve aircraft safety.
20144DARPAALIAS
Airliners and military aircraft in particular have evolved over a period of decades
to have ever more automated capabilities, improving mission success and safety. At the
same time, these aircraft still present challenging and complex interfaces to operators,
and despite demanding training regimens, operators can experience extreme workload
during emergencies and other unexpected situations. Avionics and software upgrades
can help, but can cost tens of millions of dollars per aircraft, which limits the rate of
developing, testing and fielding new automation capabilities for those aircraft, DARPA
stated.
"Our goal is to design and develop a full-time automated assistant that could be
rapidly adapted to help operate diverse aircraft through an easy-to-use operator
interface," said Daniel Patt, DARPA program manager in a statement. "These
capabilities could help transform the role of pilot from a systems operator to a mission
supervisor directing intermeshed, trusted, reliable systems at a high level."
As an automation system, ALIAS would execute a planned mission from takeoff
to landing, even in the face of contingency events such as aircraft system failures. The
ALIAS system would include persistent state monitoring and rapid procedure recall and
would provide a potential means to further enhance flight safety. Easy-to-use touch and
voice interfaces could enable supervisor-ALIAS interaction, DARPA stated.
ALIAS
DARPA outlined the ALIAS three key technical thrust areas, which include:
ALIAS
1. Minimally invasive interfaces from ALIAS to existing aircraft: It is anticipated
that the ALIAS system would need to operate aircraft functions to provide automated
operation. Systems generally confined to the cockpit would support the vision of
portability.
1ALIASALIAS
2. Knowledge acquisition on aircraft operations: To support adaptation of the
ALIAS toolkit across different aircraft in a short amount of time, it is anticipated the
ALIAS system would benefit from the use of existing host aircraft procedural
information, existing flight mechanics information or models, or other methods of
rapidly developing requisite aircraft information.
2ALIASALIAS
3. Human-machine interfaces: A vision for ALIAS is that the human operator
provides highlevel input consistent with replanning and missionlevel supervision and
is not engaged in lowerlevel flight maintenance tasks that demand constant vigilance.
3ALIAS
The ALIAS Proposers' Day will be held on Wednesday, May 14, at the DARPA
Conference Center in Arlington, VA. For more information go here.

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DARPA developing the ultimate auto-pilot software

In the field of neuromorphic engineering, researchers study computing techniques

that could someday mimic human cognition. Electrical engineers at the Georgia
Institute of Technology recently published a "roadmap" that details innovative analog-
based techniques that could make it possible to build a practical neuromorphic
computer.
2014416Gatech
A core technological hurdle in this field involves the electrical power requirements
of computing hardware. Although a human brain functions on a mere 20 watts of
electrical energy, a digital computer that could approximate human cognitive abilities
would require tens of thousands of integrated circuits (chips) and a hundred thousand
watts of electricity or more levels that exceed practical limits.
The Georgia Tech roadmap proposes a solution based on analog computing
techniques, which require far less electrical power than traditional digital computing.
The more efficient analog approach would help solve the daunting cooling and cost
problems that presently make digital neuromorphic hardware systems impractical.

"To simulate the human brain, the eventual goal would be large-scale
neuromorphic systems that could offer a great deal of computational power, robustness
and performance," said Jennifer Hasler, a professor in the Georgia Tech School of
Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), who is a pioneer in using analog
techniques for neuromorphic computing. "A configurable analog-digital system can be
expected to have a power efficiency improvement of up to 10,000 times compared to
an all-digital system."
Hasler and a former student recently published a detailed plan that describes the
development of computer systems capable of human-like cognition. The paper,
"Finding a Roadmap to Achieve Large Neuromorphic Hardware Systems" by Hasler
and Bo Marr, was published in the September 2013 edition of the journal Frontiers in
Neuroscience.
"To my knowledge, this is the first time a detailed neuromorphic roadmap has been
attempted," said Hasler. "We describe specific computational techniques could offer
real progress in neuromorphic systems."
Unlike digital computing, in which computers can address many different
applications by processing different software programs, analog circuits have
traditionally been hard-wired to address a single application. For example, cell phones
use energy-efficient analog circuits for a number of specific functions, including
capturing the user's voice, amplifying incoming voice signals, and controlling battery
power.
 Because analog devices do not have to process binary codes as digital computers
do, their performance can be both faster and much less power hungry. Yet traditional
analog circuits are limited because they're built for a specific application, such as
processing signals or controlling power. They don't have the flexibility of digital
devices that can process software, and they're vulnerable to signal disturbance issues,
or noise.
In recent years, Hasler has developed a new approach to analog computing, in
which silicon-based analog integrated circuits take over many of the functions now
performed by familiar digital integrated circuits. These analog chips can be quickly
reconfigured to provide a range of processing capabilities, in a manner that resembles
conventional digital techniques in some ways.
Over the last several years, Hasler and her research group have developed devices
called field programmable analog arrays (FPAA). Like field programmable gate arrays
(FPGA), which are digital integrated circuits that are ubiquitous in modern computing,
the FPAA can be reconfigured after it's manufactured hence the phrase "field-
programmable."
GatechFPAAFPGA
Hasler and Marr's 29-page paper traces a development process that could lead to
the goal of reproducing human-brain complexity. The researchers investigate in detail
a number of intermediate steps that would build on one another, helping researchers
advance the technology sequentially.
For example, the researchers discuss ways to scale energy efficiency, performance
and size in order to eventually achieve large-scale neuromorphic systems. The authors
also address how the implementation and the application space of neuromorphic
systems can be expected to evolve over time.
"A major concept here is that we have to first build smaller systems capable of a
simple representation of one layer of human brain cortex," Hasler said. "When that
system has been successfully demonstrated, we can then replicate it in ways that
increase its complexity and performance."
Among neuromorphic computing's major hurdles are the communication issues
involved in networking integrated circuits in ways that could replicate human cognition.
In their paper, Hasler and Marr emphasize local interconnectivity to reduce complexity.
Moreover, they argue it's possible to achieve these capabilities via purely silicon-based
techniques, without relying on novel devices that are based on other approaches.
 Gatech
Commenting on the recent publication, Alice C. Parker, a professor of electrical
engineering at the University of Southern California, said, "Professor Hasler's
technology roadmap is the first deep analysis of the prospects for large scale
neuromorphic intelligent systems, clearly providing practical guidance for such systems,
with a nearer-term perspective than our whole-brain emulation predictions. Her
expertise in analog circuits, technology and device models positions her to provide this
unique perspective on neuromorphic circuits."

Eugenio Culurciello, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Purdue

University, commented, "I find this paper to be a very accurate description of the field
of neuromorphic data processing systems. Hasler's devices provide some of the best
performance per unit power I have ever seen and are surely on the roadmap for one of
the major technologies of the future."
Said Hasler: "In this study, we conclude that useful neural computation machines
based on biological principles and potentially at the size of the human brain -- seems
technically within our grasp. We think that it's more a question of gathering the right
research teams and finding the funding for research and development than of any
insurmountable technical barriers."

http://www.news.gatech.edu/2014/04/16/neuromorphic-computing-roadmap-envisions-analog-
path-simulating-human-brain
Neuromorphic Computing "Roadmap" Envisions Analog Path to Simulating Human Brain

UConn, home to the nations foremost center on hardware security, and Comcast
today announced the establishment of a new Center of Excellence for Security
Innovation (CSI) on the Universitys main campus in Storrs.
The center unites the expertise of researchers within UConns existing Center for
Hardware Assurance, Security, and Engineering (CHASE) and Comcasts leadership in
Internet systems security to develop robust detection systems and analytical tools to
ensure that the computer chips and other hardware components vital to Internet
broadband systems are shielded from malicious attacks, unauthorized access, and faulty
or counterfeit products.
20144IPComcastCSICHASEComcast
 This new Center of Excellence for Security Innovation further establishes UConn
as a national leader in hardware security analysis and technology, says Kazem
Kazerounian, dean of UConns School of Engineering. It is yet another example of how
academic-industry partnerships can advance science, improve peoples lives, and create
a new generation of highly-skilled workers prepared to resolve the technological
challenges facing our nation and world today.
CSIUConn
John Schanz, Comcast Executive Vice President and Chief Network Officer
speaking in Rome Ballroom announcing the establishment of the Center of Excellence
for Security Innovation (CSI) at UConn.
UConns leadership in hardware assurance research is well established and we
envision the Center of Excellence will be supported by significant, multi-year funding
for research initiatives, joint innovation, and the development of the next generation of
technologists, says John Schanz, executive vice president and chief network officer of
Comcast. While many of those research projects will be sponsored by Comcast, we also
anticipate research funding and support from the federal government and other industry
partners.
ComcastCSIComcastCSIComcast
Officials announced the new Center of Excellence in Security Innovation, to be
located in the Information Technologies Engineering building, during a break in a two-
day national conference at UConn on secure/trustworthy systems and supply chain
assurance sponsored by CHASE. Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen was
among those attending the announcement.
The Internet has transformed our lives and the way we do business, Jepsen said.
At the same time, were experiencing widespread and more frequent cyber attacks and
data breaches that have resulted in the loss of sensitive personal information or put it at
risk.
Connecticut reported 427 cyber security breaches last year that threatened the
personal information of 580,000 Connecticut residents, or more than 16 percent of the
states population. Those are serious numbers, Jepsen said. The cost to the individuals
and businesses involved in these breaches is enormous.
UConn Provost Mun Choi says the unique public-private partnership behind the
new Center of Excellence for Security Innovation combines the strengths and resources
of a major research university like UConn with those of a major industry leader to tackle
real world problems.
In this very interconnected world, we have to be worried about sabotage. We
have to worry about errors, says Choi. Universities must work collectively with industry
partnersThis collaboration will enable our faculty to work on relevant problems, train
our students, and make an impact in the marketplace. Today, two great organizations
have come togetherand when it comes to hardware security, the University of
Connecticut, Comcast, and all of our partners will make an important impact.
As part of the new initiative, two UConn Ph.D. candidates will have internships
with Comcast this summer, according to Myrna Soto, chief information and
infrastructure security officer for Comcast. They have already learned a great deal about
our hardware, our assurances, and the security framework were working toward, Soto
said. I have no doubt they will be significant contributors from day one.
The Center of Excellence expands the longstanding relationship between Comcast
and UConns School of Engineering. Comcast is one of the founding members of
CHASE, which also lists the U.S. Department of Defense, National Science Foundation,
and industry leaders such as Honeywell, Samsung, and CISCO as sponsors.
UConns CHASE faculty is eager to work with Comcast and other industry
leaders in developing robust, secure, and trustworthy hardware technologies and
detection techniques that provide unprecedented assurance in todays rapidly evolving
hardware environment, said Mark Tehranipoor, the director of CHASE, who will also
serve as director of the CSI.
Comcast Cable is the nations largest video, high-speed Internet and phone provider
to residential customers under the XFINITY brand and also provides these services to
businesses. Comcast has invested in technology to build an advanced network that
delivers among the fastest broadband speeds, and brings customers personalized video,
communications, and home management offerings. Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA,
CMCSK) is a global media and technology company.

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during-heartbleed-week
University of Connecticut and Comcast launch Center of Excellence for Security Innovation