Абитуриент Ренсселера переименовал кафедру электротехники в честь пожертвования на 27 млн долларов

TROY, N.Y. — Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) has renamed one of its departments following a generous investment from an alumnus. Douglas A. Mercer, a member of RPI’s class of 1977 and an Analog Devices Fellow Emeritus, donated nearly $27 million in June to support the university’s Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering (ECSE). In recognition of his gift and decades of support, the department was renamed the Douglas A. Mercer ’77 Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering at a signing ceremony on Aug. 25. “For nearly 120 years, electrical engineering has been a core component of RPI’s identity,” RPI President Martin Schmidt ’81 said in a news release. “Pioneering alumni have graduated from the department and gone on to develop groundbreaking technologies like the microprocessor, digital camera, insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), and the PC graphics processor. As a pioneer in analog-digital conversion, Doug Mercer ’77 has left his own powerful impact on the field — and with this extraordinary donation, he’s ensuring that ECSE has the resources needed to continue equipping students for revolutionary discoveries long into the future.” Mercer’s landmark investment will strengthen engineering education and innovation in the Capital Region for generations to come. The gift will support hands-on learning throughout the ECSE curriculum and invest in faculty positions. It builds on the significant investment Mercer has already made in the department, with previous gifts funding RPI’s Mercer XLab, a space located in the Johnson Engineering Center that has provided hands-on education to students for more than a decade. “Doug Mercer ’77 has long invested his resources, time, experience, and ideas in ECSE, supporting student design and exploration, advising the department, and championing learning by building,” Alhussein Abouzeid, head of the Douglas A. Mercer ’77 Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering, said in the release. “Our students know him as an engineer and inventor who takes a genuine interest in their work and challenges them to turn ideas into something real. His gift carries that spirit across the department by expanding opportunities for students to discover, create, and innovate, and for faculty to teach, invent, and lead at the frontiers of their fields.” Mercer, whose career includes developing groundbreaking data converter technologies, has long championed experiential learning and workforce readiness. A native of Saratoga Springs, Mercer has been passionate about electrical engineering since the fourth grade. He followed that passion to RPI, and after graduating, joined ADI. Mercer went on to build a career in the linear IC industry, helping design and develop high resolution and high-speed data converter products. He contributed to over 30 commercial products, with industry firsts such as the first single supply microprocessor compatible DAC. Mercer holds 13 patents and was appointed to the position of ADI Fellow in 1995. “Doug Mercer is a quintessential engineer, inventor, and visionary whose pioneering work at the interface of the analog and digital worlds has helped shape the technologies that power modern life” Shekhar Garde, Thomas R. Farino, Jr. ’67 and Patricia E. Farino Dean of Engineering, said in the release. “Doug’s transformative gift is a testament to his unwavering belief in learning by doing and in the power of an RPI education.” In reflecting on his journey and his aspirations for RPI students, Mercer shared some simple advice: “find your passion, maintain your curiosity, and remember the fundamentals.”