Dominion Energy generously donated $150,000 to support the Emerging Scholars Program. The Program’s mission is to establish a college-going culture among students from South Carolina’s economically disadvantaged areas. For the 2022-2023 school year, 154 students across five counties are supported and provided with tools and resources for academic enrichment, developing leadership skills, and increasing college preparedness. Since 2012, 85% of Emerging Scholars have enrolled in a two or four-year institution, and 75% of those students matriculated in South Carolina with a majority enrolling at Clemson University.

Dominion Energy also donated $25,000 to support The Men of Color National Summit. The mission of this national conference is to close the opportunity gap for African American and Hispanic males. Bringing together approximately 2,400 high school and college students, business professionals, educators, government officials and community leaders from around the country, the Summit emphasizes the importance of education, best practices, and choices to increase high school and college graduation rates. Since 2018, the two-day Summit has impacted the lives of thousands of young men by providing inspirational guidance on career and professional development, entrepreneurship, masculinity and personal identity, graduation achievement and community engagement.

Corporate support plays a critical role in the success of these programs and Dominion Energy’s gift helps sustain their ability to serve students and families across the State of South Carolina.

Ford Motor Company generously donated more than $80,000 in February to establish scholarships and fellowships in Automotive Engineering. The Ford Motor Company Scholarship is awarded to undergraduate students pursuing a Certificate/Minor in Automotive Engineering. Ford will help selected scholars gain industry insights and will participate in the annual CU-ICAR Awards Ceremony. This gift establishes Ford Motor Company as a sponsor in Clemson University’s AuE Certificate/Minor program.

In addition, the Ford Motor Company Fellowship in Automotive Engineering will be exclusively awarded to graduate students who have completed the Certificate/Minor program in Automotive Engineering and are now studying Automotive Engineering as a graduate student at Clemson University. This Fellowship will help support the professional development of students in AuE and will function as a recruitment tool to bring the best and brightest students to CU-ICAR.

The formation of these two programs will build on the relationship established with Ford as a significant recruiter of Clemson University graduates and through Ford’s sponsorship of Deep Orange 10 and URP projects (University Research Program).

Hitachi High Technologies originally established the Electron Microscopy Fellowship in 2014 and has recently committed to the continuation of the fellowship for five years.  The purpose of this gift is to provide an annual fellowship for one graduate student enrolled in the College of Science or the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences. The 2018-2019 recipient, Kathryn Peruski focuses her studies on environmental, nuclear-site remediation research. Using microscopes available at Clemson’s Electron Microscopy Facility, Peruski has captured the miniscule fragmenting of neptunium, a radioactive byproduct of nuclear power generation that is stored underground. Through her research, Peruski hopes to better understand what causes neptunium to break so engineers can design effective storage methods for nuclear waste.

The Electron Microscope Facility has several state-of-the-art high resolution transmission electron microscopes (TEM), scanning electron microscopes (SEM) and a combined Focused Ion Beam (FIB)/SEM microscope. Housed at the Advanced Materials Research Laboratory in Anderson, the facility has steadily grown with Hitachi’s support. The multi-user facility attracts clients from the aerospace, automotive, pharmaceutical, textile, electronics, environmental and medical industries.

The ongoing partnership between Hitachi and Clemson University provides funding as well as innovative technology to the Microscopy Lab where Hitachi houses multiple cutting-edge microscopes used to promote research.

 GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt visits Clemson

Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO of GE, visited campus on Friday, May 6 with members of the GE-Clemson Engagement Team, Clemson alumni recently hired by GE, and Clemson student interns at GE. Mr. Immelt enjoyed touring Clemson’s campus, including the Watt Family Innovation Center, and seeing the strong partnership between Clemson and GE firsthand. Mr. Immelt was the commencement speaker on May 7 and received an Honorary Doctorate Degree.

View Mr. Immelt’s Commencement Address

Toyota-sponsored Deep Orange 6 unveiled at SAE World Congress

The Toyota-sponsored Deep Orange 6 concept vehicle was unveiled at the 2016 Society for Automotive Engineers World Congress in Detroit on April 12. Titled “uBox,” this urban utility, activity concept vehicle was built with members of Generation Z in mind and geared toward an uber-mobile, entrepreneurial lifestyle.

Toyota challenged the graduate students in the automotive engineering program at CU-ICAR to develop a concept vehicle that would appeal to young, urban buyers. Research shows that members of Generation Z are less interested in vehicle ownership, making it important to understand this generation and what type of vehicle would meet their needs and desires.

The Deep Orange framework immerses graduate students in experiential learning that asks them to apply lessons from faculty and industry advisors into new designs. CU-ICAR and the Deep Orange team benefits from the support and involvement from many corporate partners throughout the 2-year design and building process. In turn, industry experts get a firsthand look into the future of automotive engineering.

“This has been a valuable experience for us as well. Seeing how the next generation of engineers thinks, works and integrates technology has been a great takeaway,” said Jeff Makarewicz, senior vice president of Vehicle, Quality, & Safety Engineering at Toyota Motor North America.

Read more about Deep Orange 6

CFR Updates

PEER and WISE receive $80,000 from the Duke Energy Foundation
The Duke Energy Foundation has awarded $80,000 ($40,000 each) to Clemson’s Programs for Educational Enrichment and Retention (PEER) and Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) programs in the College of Engineering and Science. Both programs have been serving underrepresented students for over 20 years, and this award from the Duke Energy Foundation continues its longstanding support of Clemson students and programs, specifically those aimed at increasing and diversifying the STEM workforce in our state. The Duke Energy Foundation awarded over $500,000 for education grants to programs and initiatives across South Carolina during this grant cycle.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation program officer visits Clemson
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation program officer Dr. Alonzo Plough visited the Upstate on April 25 to meet with representatives from the Clemson University – Greenville Health System partnership, as well as from many community-based organizations focused on health and wellness. Dr. Plough also gave a presentation titled “Framework and Measures to Build a Culture of Health” and participated in round-table discussions with leaders of Clemson’s College of Health, Education, and Human Development and College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Life Sciences. At Dr. Plough’s invitation, Clemson will be submitting two concept papers that have potential to be expanded into full proposals to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Companies engaged with CFR
Honda R&D, Premier, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Dell, Graham Foundation, SunTrust, First Citizens Bank, South State Bank, Blackbaud,Sonoco, Nilpeter, Michelin, Duke Energy, Eastman Chemical Company, and GE visited with CFR Development Officers and other Development and campus partners in the past two months to broaden strategic partnerships and find new avenues of engagement with Clemson.

In Our Feed

Hubbell Lighting and Hubbell Foundation establish engineering scholarships at Clemson

Hubbell Lighting Inc., one of the largest manufacturers of industrial and residential lighting fixtures in North America, and The Hubbell Foundation have pledged $250,000 to Clemson University to establish the Hubbell Foundation Engineering Scholarship Endowment. The endowment will fund need-based scholarships for junior engineering majors, which may be renewed their senior year. The Hubbell Foundation Engineering Scholars also may be offered internships at Hubbell Lighting to gain real experience in a specialized engineering field. Hubbell Lighting Inc. has committed to providing an additional $10,000 gift annually for five years until the endowment generates a spendable budget so the scholarships can be awarded immediately. This gift will provide five $2,000 scholarships. Hubbell’s $10,000 annual gift contributed toward the2016 Clemson Give Day.

CFR Updates

Grant Seeking Forum hosted by CFR, OSP, and Watt Center
CFR partners with the Office of Sponsored Programs and the Watt Family Innovation Center to host a bi-monthly Grant Seeking Forum focused on fostering conversation about the grant seeking process with private, national foundations. The most recent forum on April 12 featured a Q&A session with Barbara Speziale, Associate Director of the Watt Family Innovation Center, and Jane Jacobi, Proposal Development Team Lead. Topics included understanding both local and national funding needs, avoiding common grant seeking pitfalls, and engaging with prestigious funders such as the W. M. Keck Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Segars Family and Choate Family Scholars Dinner
Millard and Sue Choate of Choate Construction and Goz Segars of Segars Realty met with the 2015-2016 Segars Family and Choate Family Scholars for dinner on March 31. The Segars Family and Choate Family Scholarship Endowment and The Choate Family Scholarship Endowment, both created in 2012, provide need-based scholarships to students majoring in Construction Science and Management in the College of Architecture, Arts, and Humanities. Twelve CSM students received these scholarships in the 2015-2016 academic year.

Companies Engaged with CFR
Eastman Chemical, Arris, Comporium, SCRA, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation, Bridgestone, Sonoco, Esko, Harris Corporation, Volvo, MTC Federal, Dell, Kemet, AVX, Bojangles,RaceTrac, Entegra Bank, Hartness International, and Corning visited with CFR Development Officers and other Development and campus partners in the past month to broaden strategic partnerships and find new avenues of engagement with Clemson.

Faculty Profile

Dr. David M. Feliciano, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, was recently awarded a $210,000 grant from the Whitehall Foundation for his project entitled “Extracellular Vesicles Coordinate Corticogenesis.” Completed over a three-year period, this project will analyze the function of exosomes in the nervous system in order to determine the role that they play in cerebral cortical development. Dr. Feliciano’s research interests also include examining genes associated with autism and epilepsy and determining their role in brain development. Over the past five years, his work has received research awards from both private and public funding entities.

In Our Feed

Thank you @Hubbell_Ltg for establishing the Hubbell Foundation Engineering Scholarship Endowment! #ClemsonGiveDay https://t.co/tzAAgAMe1v

— Clemson University (@ClemsonUniv) April 6, 2016

Wells Fargo representatives visited Clemson for the first annual Wells Fargo Scholars Luncheon, which highlighted Wells Fargo’s support for students in the College of Business. Dean Bobby McCormick hosted the lunch at Pixie & Bill’s Restaurant in Clemson, and five of this year’s Wells Fargo Scholars shared about their Clemson experiences and their impressive plans for the future, including full-time positions and internships with major banks and graduate school opportunities.

CFR Updates

New Corporate Relationship: Home Depot
Home Depot executives met with Clemson representatives from The Center for Career and Professional Development, the School of Computing, and CFR in Atlanta to discuss new opportunities for research, engagement, and recruiting.

CFR Officers from 16 Southeastern Universities Visit Clemson
On February 4-5, 2016, the Southeastern Universities Corporate and Foundation Relations group came to Clemson to discuss best practices and tools for success. Over 50 CFR officers from 16 universities came to Clemson for the meeting, including Auburn, Emory University, Georgia Tech, Furman University, University of Alabama, University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Kentucky, University of South Carolina and University of Tennessee. Clemson, the University of South Carolina and the University of Tennessee co-hosted the meeting, which included three working sessions on a variety of CFR-related topics, and an industry panel during lunch with representatives Susie Adams from the Duke Energy Foundation, Cheryl Smith Wiggins from Fluor, and Ted Creech from AT&T.

Wood Utilization + Design Institute Hosts Corporate Guests
Lendlease, SmartLam, and Collum’s Lumber visit Allendale, SC to discuss opportunities for engagement with the Wood Utilization + Design Institute

Companies Engaged with CFR
Toyobo, Mercedes Benz Vans, Nissan, JTEKT, Sage Automotive Interiors, Harris Corporation, Mitsubishi Chemical, Aisin, Honda R&D, Multi-Color Corporation,Bosch, Volvo, Choate Construction, GM, Collum’s Lumber, MTC Federal, IBM,Planar, Meritor, Folbot, Moondog Animation, Dell, Corning, Vulcan Materials,RaceTrac, Blackbaud, AVX, VF, Avtec, Tanger, NutraMax, LabCorp, The Annexstad Family Foundation, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Community Foundation of Greenville, Siemens, Hubbell Lighting, BMW, Duke Energy, Home Depot, Wells Fargo, and Michelin visited with CFR Development Officers and other Development and campus partners in the past two months to broaden strategic partnerships and find new avenues of engagement with Clemson.

In Our Feed

We enjoyed celebrating our Wells Fargo Student Scholars and Wells Fargo Professor today! Thank you, @WellsFargo!

— Ann Marie Alexander (@CU_CFRAnnMarie)

Watt Family Innovation Center Grand Opening

Clemson’s new hub of innovation, creativity, collaboration, research, and industry relations—the Watt Family Innovation Center—opened its doors to students in January 2016 and serves as a model for 21^st century education with state-of-the-art technology, interactive learning systems, and flexible environments.

Corporate support plays a key role in the Watt Center, with five Founding Innovation Partners, one Innovation Partner, and several sponsors committing funding to the Center through cash and in-kind donations.

Founding Innovation Partners for the Watt include SRC, SCRA, Haworth, Philips Lighting, and Comporium and Brocade is the Center’s first Innovation Partner. The relationship between the Center, an academic building, and these industry leaders is a model for the type of public-private collaboration the Watt Family Innovation Center intends to inspire.

Founding Innovation Partners

Philips Lighting

Philips Lighting has installed a first-of-its-kind, large-scale Power over Ethernet (PoE) lighting system in the Watt Center, which combines LED lighting to provide flexible work spaces, optimize space management in the facility, and improve energy efficiency. The Watt Center also features the largest media facade installation in the United States using Philips iColor Flex LMX gen2, flexible strands of large high-intensity LED nodes with intelligent color light. The installation includes more than 45,000 individually controllable light points designed for extraordinary effects and expansive installations.
“The Watt Family Innovation Center is a beacon for progressive schools like Clemson University looking to engage and motivate their students to develop cutting-edge ideas in collaboration with industry and government that can have real-world impact,” said Amy Huntington, president of Philips Lighting Americas.

Haworth

Innovative furniture manufacturer Haworth, Inc.’s support of the Watt Family Innovation Center includes over $2 million of interior furniture and workspace products, and an additional $800,000 in research funding. Students and faculty alike have already enjoyed the different types of Haworth furniture installed throughout the building, much of which was manufactured in Clemson’s specific orange hue.

“At Haworth, we value continuous education and the innovative schools and programs in our communities that never stop exploring and teaching. Haworth is proud to support Clemson,” said Franco Bianchi, President and CEO of Haworth.

Comporium

Comporium, Inc., an innovative South Carolina-based telecommunications company, has pledged $3 million in financial support and in-kind products and services to the Watt Center. Clemson’s faculty, staff and students historically have collaborated and partnered with Comporium in academic and research areas related to a wide spectrum of interest and business operations. This new relationship centers on a multi-faceted engagement that includes philanthropic support of students, faculty, equipment and operations in the new center.
“Comporium sees a great value in educating students in real-world collaboration to take a technologically advanced idea to the development of a practical application,” said Comporium President and CEO Bryant Barnes. “We believe that the Center’s role in fostering entrepreneurship and leadership with an emphasis in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) will serve the citizens of South Carolina. The Watt Center enables the connectivity of the Technology Incubator at Knowledge Park in Rock Hill and others to this network.”

SCRA

SCRA’s partnership with the Watt will support the deployment of high-tech studios to enable new cross-discipline operations and sustainability for supporting extended network and operations, including equipment to establish virtual connectivity between the Watt Center, SCRA Innovation Centers, and research universities in the state. “The immediate and comprehensive advancements to multi-party communications that these studios will provide will greatly contribute to and improve our state’s ‘knowledge economy,’” said SCRA CEO Bill Mahoney.

SRC

Dr. Charles Watt (’59, electrical engineering), Executive Director of the Watt Family Innovation Center is founder and former chairman of Atlanta-based Scientific Research Corporation (SRC), an advanced science and engineering company that provides military and commercial technology solutions to public and private sectors. His son Steve Watt (’81, B.S. administration management) is SRC executive vice president; and son Mike Watt (’84, B.S. computer engineering) is SRC chairman and CEO.

In Our Feed

The Watt Center media facade is USA’s largest using our iColor Flex LMX gen2 https://t.co/TGtQk4A3Tf @ClemsonUniv pic.twitter.com/BdNZqzx74y

— Philips Lighting (@PhilipsLight) January 29, 2016

Thanks to the Watt Family and our Innovation Partners for their vision and support #ClemsonFamily pic.twitter.com/tCETSdDEC3

— Jim Clements (@ClemsonPrez) January 22, 2016

Check out @ClemsonUniv new facility featuring Haworth product#HigherEducation https://t.co/to8oTJ3tlJ

— Haworth, Inc. (@Haworthinc) January 21, 2016

PoE system collects data on room occupancy to optimize facilities management + save energy. https://t.co/TGtQk4A3Tf pic.twitter.com/X4m1O46Kce

— Philips Lighting (@PhilipsLight) January 30, 2016

Comporium, Inc. has pledged $3 million to the Watt Family Innovation Center to become a Founding Innovation Partner. Headquartered in Rock Hill, SC, Comporium, Inc. is a diversified telecommunications company that embraces innovation to provide voice, video, data, wireless and security products and services. 

Siemens Representatives Visit Campus
Representatives from Siemens joined partners from across Clemson in the Watt Family Innovation Center on January 19-20 for sessions on various Siemens software products and discussions on ways to increase engagement.

Automotive News World Congress
GM, Nissan, Bosch, and IMC met with Clemson representatives Anne Barr, Fred Cartwright, and Suzanne Dickerson in conjunction with this year’s Automotive News World Congress followed by Industry Day at the Detroit Auto Show. This event provides an excellent opportunity to be immersed in current industry trends and to network with senior executives in the automotive sector.

Engineering Information Foundation Grant
The Engineering Information Foundation recently awarded a $17,528 grant to a joint project between the Departments of Communication Studies and Civil Engineering titled “Enhancing Engineering Students’ Oral and Visual Communication Skills through Cross-Curricular Education.” Led by Darren Linvill, Associate Professor and Director of the Basic Courses in the Department of Communication Studies, the project seeks to apply the best practices from communication studies pedagogies to engineering curricula in order to help engineering students develop effective oral and visual communication skills.

Companies Engaged with CFR
Sonoco Packaging, Aisin, Volvo, JTEKT, Henry Luce Foundation, American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), Hubbell Lighting, Eastman Chemical, Siemens, IBM, Charles Ingram Lumber Company, and Helene Fuld Health Trust visited with CFR Development Officers and other Development and campus partners in the past month to broaden strategic partnerships and find new avenues of engagement with Clemson.

CFR Updates

Wells Fargo has awarded Clemson a $150,000 grant to support research aimed at preventing Armillaria root rot, a fungus that can destroy peach crops throughout the Southeast. Read more about this research project being conducted in the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Life Sciences.

The Watt Family Innovation Center now has five corporate Founding Innovation Partners and one corporate Innovation Partner. Read more about Clemson’s newest innovation center.

Daimler Vans established the Daimler Vans Scholars Program with a $135,000 gift and recently hosted a dinner for Clemson’s 2015-2016 Daimler Scholars to discuss ways the students can become engaged with Daimler through internships, co-ops, and eventual full-time positions.

TD Bank, DriveSafety, The Beach Company, Duke Energy, Izumi International, JTEKT, RaceTrac, Hubbell, Blue Acorn, Siemens, Colonial Life Insurance, Wells Fargo, Blackbaud, ISHPI, Phishlabs, Aisin, IBM, First Citizens Bank, The Greenery, Acumen IT, Clark Construction, Spirit Communications, and Volvo visited with CFR Development Officers and other Development and campus partners in the past month to broaden strategic partnerships and find new avenues of engagement with Clemson.

Recognizing Corporate Partners

Spirit Communications executives visited campus on Friday, November 21 for an event to recognize their $1.48 million gift to provide broadband services to Clemson University, connecting South Carolina’s premier research universities with a state-of-the-art fiber optic backbone.

Read more >>

Corporate Leaders on Campus

US Steel CEO Mario Longhi visited Clemson in late November for an introduction to Clemson’s research capabilities at CU-ICAR and the Watt Family Innovation Center, and also attended the Clemson vs. Wake Forest football game.

Big Switch executives joined President Clements and CIO Jim Bottum at a tailgate before the Wake Forest football game to celebrate their $1.23M gift of networking technology. Read more about this partnership with CCIT.

#Clemson gets $150,000 from Wells Fargo to research ways to prevent fungus that devastates peach crops https://t.co/3CmNGqx5Ek

— Clemson University (@ClemsonUniv) December 3, 2015

Thank you @Spirit_B4B for your support of @ClemsonUniv https://t.co/gzU8jKQlLC pic.twitter.com/rXBjCUn1me

— Jim Clements (@ClemsonPrez) November 20, 2015

 Companies Engaged with CFR in the Past Month

 New and Newsworthy

JTEKT announced that they are moving their North American headquarters to the campus of CU-ICAR, where the JTEKT/Koyo technical facility is currently located. JTEKT currently participates in sponsored research projects, supports the JTEKT Deep Orange Fellowship, and actively mentors and recruits Clemson students.

Read more.

Corporate Leaders on Campus

Siemens CEO Eric Spiegel visited Clemson to learn more about Clemson’s culture of innovation and discuss a partnership encompassing research,   software, and student engagement.

Nissan Executive VP José Muñoz toured CUICAR and participated in an interactive program with Clemson’s Automotive Engineering students as part of a recent visit to Greenville.

Michelin Scholars @ClemsonCoEngSci being recognized@ClemsonUniv by @MichelinUSA. Congratulations and thank you! pic.twitter.com/0IGNtEzg3R

— Ann Marie Alexander (@CU_CFRAnnMarie) October 21, 2015