A*Star and NUS to support growth of Green Electronics

Business Times 13 May 11;

THE environment is taking centrestage in the electronics industry with 'Green Electronics' being identified as one of four new engines of economic growth.

To support the development of this sector, the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) have launched two research programmes to nurture and trained skilled professionals to power this emerging niche area.

Announced yesterday, the new programmes undertaken by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and the NUS Faculty of Engineering in collaboration with A*Star Data Storage Institute and Institute of Microelectronics will lead to a PhD for successful candidates.

They will be equipped with the skills and knowledge to enhance green data centre technologies and develop next-generation power devices for green automotive and energy harvesting.

According to Professor Chua Kee Chiang, department head of ECE, such initiatives are timely, and 'in response to an urgent need to tackle the global challenges of energy supply and sustainable development'.

The programmes aim to produce highly skilled researchers and engineers who are able to plan and design data centres of the future, which can result in high-performance services with huge energy and cost reductions.

It is hoped that these will further boost the electronics sector, which experienced 27 per cent growth and generated $89.9 billion in fixed-asset investment last year.

Scholarships provided by A*Star and NUS are available to support successful candidates. The programmes will start in August.