9871977 Xiao University-Industry Partnership for Enabling Advances in Telecommunications Abstract: The research competitiveness of University of Arkansas faculty and students in photonics-electronics will be enhanced by formally establishing both a research and education partnership with Lucent Technologies, the leader in the industry. The partnership will address one of the most pressing problems facing telecommunications today - the low transmission data rates of present, long-haul, fiber optics links. The Arkansas-Lucent team, working side-by- side, will focus on developing key optical elements, such as light sources, fast optical switches, multiplexer/demultiplexer, filters, and add/drop loops, for wavelength division multiplexing. Six faculty members at the University of Arkansas will spend blocks of time at Lucent Technologies on research during summers and semester breaks and shorter visits throughout the year as needed. Likewise, four scientists at Lucent will spend blocks of time at the University of Arkansas on research efforts and in contributing to the formal education of students as adjunct professors, via classroom lectures and seminars. Post-doctoral appointees and graduate students will spend approximately half their time at each laboratory working on only one project but taking advantage of the different skills, point-of-view, and facilities available at each laboratory. The Arkansas-Lucent partnership will provide faculty and students with the opportunity to: (1) work on significant industrial R&D problems; (2) develop new technical skills important to telecommunications, many of which are unique at Lucent; and (3) participate in a new paradigm in graduate training leading to broader career opportunities.
