Agilent Technologies Inc. and Bangor University opened a new Agilent-branded laboratory. The lab, located in the School of Electronic Engineering at Bangor University, is equipped with Agilent instruments and will support the teaching of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in electronic engineering.
The School of Electronic Engineering is ranked second in the UK, as determined by the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, and had the highest percentage of four-star rated publications of any school of electronic engineering in the UK. The school’s research activity is rated as internationally excellent/world-leading.
Professor John Hughes, the university’s vice-chancellor, and Graham Newton, Agilent’s education and research manager in Europe, formally opened the laboratory. The event featured a presentation from Vice-Chancellor Paul Spencer, head of the School of Electronic Engineering. Guest speaker Rear Admiral Paul Thomas also delivered a keynote presentation.
“We are extremely happy to have worked with Agilent to re-equip our new teaching lab with the latest industry-standard equipment,” Spencer said. “This equipment is already in use and our students are benefitting from the new environment. We are very grateful to Agilent for its continued support and in particular, for the generous sponsorship of this exceptionally well-equipped laboratory.”
“Agilent has always been committed to working with and supporting academic institutions to help develop the next generation of engineers. One of the ways we do this is by helping to equip teaching laboratories with cutting-edge instrumentation,’’ Newton said. “Bangor University has a world-class reputation in optoelectronics and organic electronics, and it is a real privilege to be able to support this new teaching lab and the young engineers who will be learning in it.”
The new laboratory can accommodate up to 48 students at a time. Agilent equipment in the lab includes 27 oscilloscopes, 25 DC power supplies, 25 digital multimeters and two precision source/measure units.
“This investment comes at a welcome time as it enables us to build on the school’s success in the RAE and to continue to use our research expertise to provide an outstanding student experience, and to inspire our students to achieve their full potential,” Spencer said. “We are introducing a range of new four-year master of engineer programs for undergraduates, and extending the range of masters courses that we offer.”