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CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State University announced today that it has received more than $1.64 million in contributed equipment from HP to support two major science and engineering initiatives at the institution.

The new Kelley Engineering Center, which will hold its grand opening on Oct. 29, received both "wired" and wireless networking equipment valued at $670,000 from HP, which has a printing division located in Corvallis. The contribution includes a laser scanning microscope and related equipment, valued at $975,000, for OSU's Department of Chemistry, which will use the equipment to further research at the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI).

"HP contributed a major portion of the infrastructure to support ongoing research and innovative educational efforts taking place at Oregon State," said Terri Fiez, the director of OSU's School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. "It's a very significant gift that was absolutely critical for further enhancing our research environment."

HP supplied critical technology equipment for the Kelley Engineering Center, the new $45-million facility that houses the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Thanks to the gift, students and faculty can access the Internet from anywhere in the building using the wireless network or work late into the evening at the facility's 24-hour computer center on HP PCs. High-tech research projects now also have the networking power necessary for their cutting-edge work.

"There is excellent, innovative work coming out of Oregon State University's engineering and science programs, and HP is proud to support these efforts," said Wayne Johnson, HP vice president of worldwide University Relations. "HP is committed to building strong university research environments to accelerate educational and technological innovation. We hope this equipment will help inspire students and faculty and lead to many exciting discoveries."

At ONAMI, the gift of a Zeiss LSM 510 laser scanning microscope will help chemistry professor Vince Remcho and engineering professors Brian Paul and Chih-Hung Chang in their work developing "nanofactories"-essentially mini-laboratories on wafer-thin chips which produce nanomaterials or molecules. These materials and methods have great potential, including possible applications in medical diagnostics, drug delivery and environmental cleanup.

"This equipment will allow us to image what's happening in the chip to insure that it works properly," said Remcho. "The microscope is capable of imaging on the nanometer to micrometer scale - it has tremendous resolution and is a great addition to our collection of tools for nanoscience."

The laser scanning microscope will greatly speed up the work being done on the chips, said Paul. Previously, graduate research assistants had to spend several hours looking under a regular microscope to see into the channels on the chip. The new microscope will project a 3-dimensional image onto a computer screen. In addition to the microscope, HP also contributed a "wafer handler" and a spin rinse drying system that will help to clean nano-scale residues from the chips.

HP has contributed equipment and financial support to a wide range of programs at OSU as part of the company's University Relations program. HP has also provided space on its Corvallis campus to temporarily house the headquarters of ONAMI, a collaboration involving OSU, Portland State University, the University of Oregon, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the state of Oregon and private industry. ONAMI is making new discoveries in the fast-evolving fields of microtechnology and nanotechnology and is helping to bring research ideas developed in the laboratory into the commercial market.