Xilinx sponsors Peking University-UCLA Joint Research Institute of Science & Engineering

SAN JOSE, USA & BEIJING, CHINA: Xilinx Inc. announced its support for a new Joint Research Institute of Science and Engineering by Peking University (PKU) and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).

At this week's opening event in Beijing, China, PKU President Zhou Qifeng and UCLA Chancellor Gene Block conducted an official signing ceremony with dignitaries in attendance from government, industry and academia.

The new Joint Research Institute of Science and Engineering will provide an institutional umbrella for collaborative, multi-disciplinary research between the two universities. Beyond the engineering lab, PKU and UCLA faculty and students will benefit from cross-educational and cross-cultural experiences through a jointly-defined syllabus, hands-on training, and an exchange program between the two universities.

A new engineering laboratory at each university will be dedicated to advanced system design and fully equipped with hardware, software, FPGA silicon, IP and tools provided through donations from corporate sponsors.

Xilinx is donating more than $500K in commercial value of Xilinx' flagship Virtex FPGA development systems and electronic design software through the Xilinx University Program (XUP). In addition, the company has agreed to establish two XUP $7,500 scholarships to support overseas study and research for students enrolled in the program, one from UCLA attending PKU and one from PKU attending UCLA.

"UCLA and Xilinx have over fifteen years of collaboration history in the area of FPGA architecture and synthesis tool research," said Jason Cong, Chancellor's Professor of the UCLA Computer Science Department and Founding Co-director of the Joint Research Institute in Science and Engineering by UCLA and PKU. "We're very grateful to Xilinx for its generous support of the joint research institute. The company's donation of hardware, software and student scholarships will allow us to set up state-of-the art embedded system design labs with shared curriculum, and to support students for international educational research."

"We're honored to collaborate with two of the most prestigious engineering universities in the world to educate the next generation of Chinese and US engineers through a program that extends beyond the engineering lab," said Fai Yeung, vice president of sales and marketing for Xilinx Asia Pacific. "We appreciate each university's vision and commitment to providing engineering students with a rigorous training program, complemented by cross-cultural experiences that will prepare them for success as they enter the working world in today's global economy."