USF gets largest in-kind donation ever

Posted Sep 20, 2011 by Lindsay Peterson

Updated Sep 20, 2011 at 05:48 PM

A nearly $26 million in-kind gift to USF gives electrical engineering students access to the same software professionals use to quickly turn their ideas into products, says College of Engineering Dean John Wiencek.

The software donation comes from California-based Agilent Technologies, which describes itself as “the world’s premier measurement company.”

USF development vice president Joel Momberg says it’s the largest in-kind donation in the university’s history.

It will give students hands-on experience with software used to develop wireless telephone technology.

“Even notes scribbled on a napkin can be scanned, and voila, a model an engineer can test and manipulate,” Wiencek said in a USF news release.

Every electrical engineering student will learn how to use the ADS (Advanced Design System), which will give them a boost in the job market, he said.

“From an employer’s standpoint, it will eliminate a six-month training period.”

The donation pushed USF over the $500 million mark toward its $600 million “Unstoppable” fundraising campaign, Momberg says.