UW-Madison College Of Engineering Gets Funds For New Institute

The College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is receiving $25 million to go towards a new research institute in its largest single gift ever.

One of the major goals of what will be known as the Grainger Institute for Engineering is to serve as business incubator for campus innovations, moving research from the lab to market.

“Manufacturing is returning to the U.S. so we are seeing a returning of that base,” said Ian Robertson, dean at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Engineering. “Our challenge is, how do we keep that manufacturing base here and how do we ensure we have the right kind of workforce?

The $25 million gift will create an endowment for professorships, faculty scholar awards, and post-doc fellowships. Robertson said the faculty is likely to focus on discovering new materials in manufacturing and the sustainability of manufacturing processes.

“In order to stay at the forefront in each of the areas as they come out, we need to be fairly nimble in how we can start new efforts,” he said. “The institute with its funding and professorships will be fairly agile in how we can move to new areas.”

The benefactor is the Grainger Foundation. David Grainger earned an electrical engineering degree from UW-Madison in 1950 has given previously to the campus.

Correction: The original version of this story said that David Grainger has a building named for him on the UW-Madison campus. In fact, Mr. Grainger has a hall named after him, not an entire building.