“Look out, world,” UD President Eric Spina said at a press conference at the university’s Kettering Labs. “IBM and UD are working together.”
“This came together because you have two institutions — one public and one private — that have a single common goal about how you leverage technology for society at large,” said IBM Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer James Kavanaugh, a 1988 UD graduate and veteran of NCR when that company was headquartered in Dayton.
The Dayton-IBM connection isn’t entirely new. Famed IBM Chairman and Chief Executive Thomas Watson worked for NCR in the early 20th century and honed his management style while working for Dayton industrialist John Patterson.
The total investment will exceed $20 million, UD Provost Darlene Weaver said. “The IBM equipment investment represents more than $10 million on their side. And then UD is bringing a similar value to that partnership,” she said.
But the partnership will have implications for national security and the region’s ties to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as well, some expect. Paul McManamon, technical director of UD’s Lidar and Optical Communications Institute, said Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) researchers and leaders will have an interest in the innovations nurtured at the new UD-IBM facility. (AFRL is headquartered at Wright-Patterson.)
“This is an extremely critical partnership for the Department of Defense,” said McManamon, who retired as chief scientist of AFRL’s Sensors Directorate.
“This relationship between the University of Dayton and IBM promises to be a game-changer for the Dayton region, particularly in the crucial area of semiconductor workforce development,” said Jeff Hoagland, president and CEO of the Dayton Development Coalition. “It’s also an example of the collaboration that defines the Dayton spirit. Looking to the future, we’re excited about the possibilities and positive effects on our community including boosting our tech ecosystem, attracting more businesses, and cementing the Dayton region’s reputation as a premier hub for advanced manufacturing and technology.”
Driving the research will be the imperative to meet new demands for Artificial Intelligence tools. The objectives include AI hardware, advanced packaging, and photonics, UD said.
114-year-old IBM “leads the world on semi-conductor R&D,” Kavanaugh said. IBM and companies like it are also always open to new partnerships with universities, where promising future workers are found.
“We’re excited to partner with the University of Dayton, because we’re looking forward to the future — what this technology can do to advance computing, AI and quantum as we move forward," the IBM CFO said.
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