Freescale opens embedded systems lab at RIT

ROCHESTER, N.Y.: The newly opened multi-million dollar addition to the James E. Gleason Building of the Kate Gleason College of Engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) now includes an Embedded Systems Laboratory donated by Freescale Semiconductor.

The new laboratory provides equipment and supplies for students to develop hardware and software for microprocessor/microcontroller systems internal to portable, robotic, communication or other embedded systems.

"Support from companies such as Freescale enables RIT to provide an additional dimension to our engineering students' education," said Harvey Palmer, dean of the Kate Gleason College of Engineering. "The Freescale lab provides hands-on, real world experience to cultivate tomorrow's technological innovators."

RIT and Freescale's collaborative efforts also include the second annual Rochester Technology Symposium to be held at RIT on Nov. 27-28. The symposium will showcase leading edge semiconductor technologies, experiential technical workshops and innovative product demonstrations. In 2006, 170 educators, engineers and business executives attended the symposium.

"RIT is one of the leading universities in developing fresh engineering minds of our future," said Andy Mastronardi, director of University Programs, Freescale. "The partnership between RIT and Freescale illustrates our mutually shared mission of providing students with the latest technology in the classroom to encourage communication, collaboration and exploration."

The partnership with the Embedded Systems Lab is part of Freescale's comprehensive university relations program that strives to advance engineering education. Through these strategic partnerships with premiere engineering universities, Freescale offers a diverse portfolio of development tools and courseware, student career programs and research collaborations. In the past two years, Freescale has installed more than 40 Freescale-branded labs in universities around the world.

"On top of their financial support, Freescale has donated microcontrollers, microprocessors, wireless transceivers, touch sensors and 3-D accelerometers for use in the lab," added Kenneth Hsu professor of computer engineering and director of the Freescale lab at RIT. "Thanks to this assistance, computer engineering students will be able to design, test and build intelligent embedded systems for a wide variety of uses, which will expand their own educational experiences while also enhancing RIT's research efforts."

RIT's Kate Gleason College of Engineering is among the nation's top-ranked engineering colleges and is well known for its experiential learning efforts. The college requires all bachelor's degree students to complete a senior design project in their field during the fifth and final year of the program. Many of these design efforts have been transferred ultimately to research and commercial applications in partnership with area companies.