Rutgers wireless networking lab awarded Alexander Schwarzkopf Prize for Technological Innovation

The Alexander Schwarzkopf Prize is awarded annually in the name of Dr. Alexander Schwarzkopf, who established the I/UCRC program at the NSF in 1979 and has managed this unique and remarkably effective program since its creation. His efforts have been recognized by many awards and have been the catalyst for adoption of the I/UCRC model by a number of states and several other countries, the highest form of recognition.

About the I/UCRC program – The I/UCRC program traces its history back to the early 1970s; it is the longest continuously operating cooperative research center program sponsored by NSF. With a modest budget of $6 million per year, the program currently supports 45 centers involving more than 80 universities, 600 member firms, 700 faculty and 850 students. NSF support is leveraged 15-to-1 by other public and private funding sources. Over the years faculty supported by the I/UCRC program have won a long list of scholarly and professional awards and honors for their research. Remarkably most of the 110 centers formed over the past 30 years are still in existence. In 1998 the Technology Transfer Society awarded the I/UCRC program its coveted Justin Morrill Award for excellence in technology transfer. On the occasion of the I/UCRC program’s 30th anniversary, Rita Colwell, then director of NSF, commented: “It is seldom that a federally funded program is a real pioneer and yet remains vigorous and innovative more than a generation later… The I/UCRC program continues to be recognized as a model for collaborative research and development between universities and industry, throughout the United States and around the world.”

Further information about the I/UCRC program can be obtained from the website www.nsf.gov/eng/iucrc/.

About the I/UCRC Association – The I/UCRC Association is a voluntary, independent organization of past and present members of the I/UCRC program, involving 42 centers, 100 universities, and thousands of faculty and student researchers.