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Out, devilish detail!
Tuition, BOGPaper company to bring 200 jobs
James Oblinger, Centennial Campus companiesPackager to shift jobs from Laurel to NC
Centennial Campus companies, Packaging Innovation CenterNCCU seeks $4.5M for high-tech center
UNC system, mention of Erskine Bowles' conducting efficiency studies of UNC campusesFinance companies scout sites
Michael WaldenHundreds of workers told plant to close in Buncombe County
Helmut Hergeth, College of Textiles
Triangle
Technology Executive Council announces March meeting topic
Internship
programs
Whereabouts
of Brazilian NC State Student Unknown
Missing student
Hundreds of workers told plant to close in Buncombe County
Feb. 16, 2006
Winston-Salem Journal, abc11tv.com, Fayetteville Online, News 14 Charlotte, WCNC, WVEC.com, Centre Daily Times (PA), Charlotte Observer, PR Newswire (UK), Myrtle Beach Sun News (SC), WSOCtv.com, Charlotte Observer, Asheville Citizen-Times
By staff report
© Copyright 2006
SWANNANOA, N.C. - A textile plant in Buncombe County that employees 350-400 workers will close next year and move to Honduras, employees learned Wednesday.
Anvil Knitwear Inc., which produces fabric for T-shirts and other clothing that is shipped to Central America for cutting and sewing, cited "competitive pressures" as the reason for the move. The company said it would start reducing operations at the Swannanoa plant later this year.
"I think it's an American business trade, like they told us," said Theresa Cairaway, known as "Big Mama" at Anvil, where she's worked for 16 years.
Cairaway didn't blame the company, which she said helped her raise two children.
"And I think if you have faith and you believe, there's always sunshine after the rain," she said.
Such moves out of the U.S. are made more attractive by passage last year of the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which eliminates or lowers U.S. tariffs on fabric made there, said Helmut Hergeth, who teaches textile management at North Carolina State University.
Buncombe County had 1,516 textile and apparel workers in the second quarter of 2005, which was less than half of the 3,847 it claimed a decade earlier.
"We have delayed the transfer for as long as practicable," Anvil said in a news release. "In fact, all of our major competitors have already made the transition."
Feb. 16, 2006
Local Tech Wire, Durham Herald-Sun, WWAY NewsChannel 3, Winston-Salem Journal, Raleigh Triangle Business Journal, Baltimore Sun (MD), Chillicothe Gazette (OH), Chillicothe Gazette (OH), Connecticut Post (CT)
By staff report
© Copyright 2006
Packaging company MeadWestvaco Corp. announced yesterday a companywide consolidation plan that will result in the loss of 50 high-paying research and development jobs in Laurel.
The Stamford, Conn.-based company, which also makes Mead brand school supplies, said it will cut costs by consolidating six divisions in its packaging business into two and moving jobs from several locations to a new headquarters in Richmond, Va. The new headquarters will employ about 400.
The restructuring also will create a $14 million research center at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. The Maryland jobs and a similar number of product research and development jobs in Ohio will move to the center, which will draw on university research and be called the Packaging Innovation Center. The center will employ about 200.
"The transition will happen fairly quickly," said Donna Owens Cox, a MeadWestvaco spokeswoman. "It will probably happen during the summer of 2006."
Cox declined to say how much the Maryland jobs pay, but North Carolina Gov. Michael F. Easley said similar positions at the packaging innovation center would pay more than $95,000. Researchers at the facility will study packaging technology and help develop new products.
"The access to state-of-the-art technology and quality research partnerships through N.C. State University's Centennial Campus is unparalleled," company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Luke Jr. said. "We look forward to bringing value to the Raleigh community, and we are confident this move will result in long-term success for our customers and our company."
MeadWestvaco, which made $28 million profit last year after a $349 million loss in 2004, said in July that it would trim annual expenses by $200 million. Cox said yesterday the consolidation would result in an unspecified number of job cuts elsewhere in the company.
The company sold its paper-making business last year, including a Western Maryland plant in Luke with nearly 1,200 workers.
Shares of MeadWestvaco rose 71 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $27.32 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday. They have fallen 9.7 percent in the past year.
Triangle Technology Executive Council announces March meeting topic
Feb. 16, 2006
Carolina Newswire
By staff report
© Copyright 2006
TTEC, the Triangle Technology Executive Council (www.triangletechexecs.com) has announced that the topic of their March 2006 meeting will cover Internships and Co-ops. Local Universities and Colleges, including Duke and North Carolina State University, will be present to address questions regarding their internship programs.
Triangle Technology Executive Council (TTEC) is an exclusive group of triangle IT Executives mostly from midsize companies that meet monthly for one hour between 7:30am and 8:30am in RTP to share ideas on technology, industry trends and current challenges. All members sign a non-disclosure agreement, which allows for a more open discussion on topics that are selected by the membership. Vendor participation is kept to a minimum with no solicitation of members. Business acumen encompasses industries such as: Software Development, Finance, Telecom, Real Estate, Medical, Graphics, and Pharmaceutical which contributes to a wide range of perspectives and approaches that makes this group unique.
For more information on how you can become a member of this exclusive executive networking forum, please contact info@triangletechexecs.com or speak to a member of the Spencer Reed Group www.spencerreed.com , our corporate sponsor, at 919-806-4687.
Whereabouts of Brazilian NC State Student Unknown
Feb. 16, 2006
WRAL.com, abc11tv.com
By staff report
© Copyright 2006
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Vitor Franchito, 23, always had a smile on his face. It's a smile that no one has seen in at least 10 days. The N.C. State computer-engineering student is missing. His father arrived in Raleigh from Brazil Tuesday looking for answers.
“I'm a father, my son is missing,” said Jose Ricardo Franchito. “I have to check on my son."
Vitor Franchito was last seen buying cigarettes at a convenience store on Western Boulevard, and then bank records show he withdrew $200 from a nearby ATM.
Raleigh police searched the area around Lake Johnson, because friends say he liked to go there and relax. They also searched near Crabtree Lake, but they found no signs of the student.
"He was very well-loved, he was very friendly, a very sweet guy," said friend Heloisa Portela Myers.
Myers started a social group for young Brazilians with Vitor Franchito. She said he missed his family and fiancée back in Brazil.
"I think he was torn about whether to stay and finish his studies,” said Myers. “I think he had a year left. Or go back and stay with his fiancée.”
Vitor Franchito's teacher and academic advisor, Cecilia Townsend, said he is an enthusiastic student. She is getting several e-mails from concerned students and faculty.
"He was active on campus,” said Townsend. “His friends are concerned about him. It just seems strange that he would just disappear like that."
"All the family want him back with us,” said Jose Ricardo Franchito. “We love him so much. That's why we need to get him back.”
Police don't believe foul play is involved in Vitor Franchito's disappearance. He didn't take his cell phone, wallet or car with him when he left.
Paper company to bring 200 jobs
Feb. 16, 2006
News Observer
By Jonathan B. Cox
© Copyright 2006
MeadWestvaco, the paper company whose brands have graced school notebooks for
generations, plans to open a research center in Raleigh with 200 jobs and
average annual wages of $95,200.
But that is a consolation prize.
The region missed the more lucrative award: the headquarters of a Fortune 500 company.
MeadWestvaco announced Wednesday that it will move its home office and 400 jobs to Richmond, Va., from Stamford, Conn., turning aside recruiting efforts from Raleigh and Atlanta.
"I sure don't want to say I'm disappointed," said James Oblinger, chancellor of N.C. State University, which will host MeadWestvaco's center on its Centennial Campus. "I'm thrilled to death they're coming here with the dimensions that they are."
MeadWestvaco plans to research and develop packaging technologies at the center, investing $14 million over four years, and partnering with faculty and students in N.C. State disciplines from textiles to design.
It was lured to the Triangle in part by the promise of state tax breaks that could total $5.19 million, provided it meets job and investment goals.
"It's certainly a sweet-spot sort of announcement," Commerce Secretary Jim Fain said Wednesday morning after he and the other members of the state Economic Investment Committee approved the financial incentives.
While MeadWestvaco is best known for products such as Mead and Five-Star notebooks, it gets three-quarters of its revenue from packaging materials. The company's paperboard is used in packaging for colas, cosmetics and health products.
State and local developers began courting the company about 18 months ago under the code name "Project Darwin."
"We had everything on the table," said Donna Owens Cox, a MeadWestvaco spokeswoman.
By last summer, however, local recruiters were told that getting the headquarters would not be possible. MeadWestvaco narrowed its choices from three to two, homing in on Richmond and Atlanta because it already has larger operations in those areas.
Representatives for MeadWestvaco kept alive the possibility of the research center here.
"It made the letdown of not getting the headquarters a little easier," said Adrienne Cole, director of Raleigh economic development for the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce. "It really emphasizes one of the areas where we think we are so strong, which is innovation and tapping into our highly skilled work force."
Even so, losing out on the headquarters was a setback. Recruiters in Raleigh and the rest of the Triangle have made attracting corporate headquarters a top priority.
Headquarters bring cachet to an area. They give a region better access to corporate coffers, which boosts philanthropy, and attract well-heeled corporate executives who spread the word about a community around the globe.
That's especially true of Fortune 500 companies. They're the largest and most prestigious of publicly traded businesses.
But large companies like to go where other large companies are. The more a community has, the easier it is to attract others.
Raleigh has one Fortune 500 company, utility Progress Energy; Richmond has nine.
MeadWestvaco wasn't lured by the presence of other giants alone. The company already has 2,200 employees in Virginia, including 200 in the Richmond metro area, making it easier to deepen its roots there, Cox said.
Costs were also a factor, since the company is working to cut about $200 million in annual expenses. Virginia offered as much as $6 million in incentives to get MeadWestvaco. Local officials around Richmond are expected to offer about $2 million more.
Winning the headquarters "would have been a big plus," Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker said. The possibility never got far enough along for the city to consider any perks to lure the office.
That Raleigh was considered at all is a bit of a victory, Meeker said. A few years back, that probably wouldn't have happened.
MeadWestvaco, which has long-standing relationships with N.C. State's College of Natural Resources and College of Textiles, hasn't nailed down all the details of its Raleigh growth. It hasn't determined whether it will buy or lease facilities on Centennial Campus, Cox said.
The company will staff the center with some workers that it plans to move from Ohio and Maryland. But it's too soon to say how many of the 200 jobs will be filled by those employees, she said.
MEADWESTVACO Founded: Mead traces its roots to 1846, Westvaco to 1888. The two merged in January 2002.
Headquarters: Moving to Richmond, Va., from Stamford, Conn.
CEO: John A. Luke Jr.
2005 revenue: $6.2 billion
Workers: more than 23,000 worldwide, including 14,700 in the United States
North Carolina operations: It has facilities in Charlotte, Garner, Grover and Mebane employing a total 556 workers. It will open a research and development center in Raleigh that will employ about 200 and be led by Jack C. Goldfrank.
What it does: Best known for notebooks bearing the Mead or Five-Star name, MeadWestvaco gets three-quarters of its revenue from packaging products. You can find its wares in packaging for colas, DVDs and other products.
Feb. 15, 2006
News & Observer
By Jonathan B. Cox
© Copyright 2006
The Triangle is not New York.
In business, that can be an asset.
The region is snagging the attention of financial services companies looking to escape the costs and risks of the Northeast. They're scouting the Triangle for sites to put back-office operations that make their companies go.
Just ask leaders at Credit Suisse. Since the company opened an operation in Research Triangle Park in May, executives have fielded calls from other financial firms wanting to know more about the region.
"We can't say we're surprised," said Jim Captain, a director in American operations for Credit Suisse, which has 270 local employees. "We weren't naive to think we were going to be the only financial services company in this area forever."
It's a promising sign for the Triangle economy. It shows that the area is getting more diverse, making it better able to weather troubles that afflict specific sectors such as technology or health care.
Since Credit Suisse came, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has announced plans to move 400 jobs from New Jersey to Durham.
And one of the world's largest financial services companies is now considering RTP as a site for large growth. Fidelity Investments, which has about 940 workers in the area, is working with state and local developers on a plan that could eventually take its local work force as high as 5,000.
The talks are ongoing, and there's no assurance that Fidelity will expand here anytime soon. The Boston company could just be exploring alternatives for the future. It could settle on another location.
That the Triangle is even an option, however, shows how far the region has come. Just a few years back, when recruiters were contemplating industries to target, the financial services sector didn't even make the list.
But the region has several key strengths attractive to industry decision makers. For one thing, it has a lower profile than marquee cities such as New York and Boston. Raleigh-Durham is less likely to be targeted by terrorists than a place like Manhattan.
That's an important consideration as businesses consider where to put the guts of their operations -- the sensitive, yet less sexy, functions that make businesses run. Credit Suisse, for instance, doesn't have high-dollar Wall-Street bankers here. It does employ people who execute the financial transactions that investors make, an important activity.
Another Triangle advantage: cost. The asking price per square foot of class A office space is a third less than rates in Boston and less than half the quoted prices in New York, according to The Staubach Company. Average home prices also are lower, meaning workers get more house for their money.
"It's a lot easier to ask someone to relocate to a place like Raleigh," Captain said.
Not that Credit Suisse has had to look elsewhere often. About 80 percent of the people it has hired came from the local labor pool, Captain said. One of the reasons the company chose RTP was the presence of workers with technology skills honed at large employers such as IBM and colleges including N.C. State University and UNC-Chapel Hill.
The attributes -- low costs, trained workers, strong universities -- are often recited by executives in many industries eyeing the Triangle for growth. Economists said it's important that financial services companies are now taking notice.
Fidelity alone, should it create 5,000 jobs, could generate an extra $400 million a year in economic activity for the region as workers and customers shop at stores, eat at restaurants and buy services, said N.C. State University economist Michael Walden.
That benefit could multiply.
"Once you get a larger contingent of financial services jobs, you can leverage it a little bit," said Mark Vitner, a senior economist with Wachovia in Charlotte. "It becomes easier to recruit others in."
Feb. 15, 2006
Charlotte Observer
By staff report
© Copyright 2006
A University of North Carolina committee did a good day's work on behalf of citizens when it purged a devilish detail from a proposal to set student costs at the state's universities. Here's what happened.
Last week the UNC Board of Governors approved a list of peer institutions for each of the state university system's 16 campuses. That's important, because as North Carolina develops guidelines for charging tuition and fees, it may use that list to make comparisons. The problem is, the list of peer institutions included private universities -- and some very pricey ones at that.
Duke and Johns Hopkins, for example, are peers for UNC Chapel Hill. Cornell is a peer for N.C. State. That means what those private schools charge students might affect the price at public universities generously supported by tax dollars. That's outrageous.
Apparently, the committee and the Board of Governors thought so, too. The list was approved, but all agreed that the private universities would not be included when deciding tuition levels. Good. It makes sense to say, for example, that Chapel Hill and Duke -- located 8 miles apart -- have comparable programs and compete for students and faculty. That certainly should be taken into account when setting salary levels. But it has no business determining how much citizens should pay to attend their state university.
Work is under way by the Board of Governors to devise a comprehensive policy that will guide decisions about how much tuition and fees can be charged. That's a significant piece of business. Steep, steady tuition and fee hikes in the past decade increased student costs as much as 70 percent at some universities, including Chapel Hill. That must not continue. Ordinary families cannot afford it. One practical step is coming up with some guidelines.
The details of any comprehensive policy have not been worked out. Yet it is encouraging that the Board of Governors clearly -- and correctly -- said private school costs have no place in that mix.
NCCU seeks $4.5M for high-tech center
Feb. 16, 2006
Durham Herald-Sun
By Paul Bonner
© Copyright 2006
DURHAM -- Obtaining $4.5 million in operating funds for the high-tech BRITE center that N.C. Central University plans to open next year was among legislative priorities trustees heard about Wednesday.
Chancellor James H. Ammons' quarterly report to the trustees came a day after the Biomanufacturing Research Initiative and Technology Center for Excellence received a go-ahead from the Durham Planning Commission.
As one of the UNC system institutions earmarked for expansion, NCCU also will seek to continue receiving so-called "focus-growth" funding, Ammons said. NCCU's capital campaign and a planned doctoral program in information science are among other priorities, he said.
The UNC system under new President Erskine Bowles soon will conduct efficiency studies of the system's 16 campuses, and Ammons said he will appoint a task force for that purpose at NCCU. Schools of education including NCCU's will receive additional scrutiny to show that they are producing more and better schoolteachers, especially in math and science, he said.
The trustees also heard from Ammons about efforts to regain accreditation for NCCU's School of Business that lapsed in December. Under a previous dean, the school didn't reapply for the accreditation on schedule because it was pursuing accreditation from another, more prestigious body. Now it is working on both, he said.
NCCU's campus construction projects are progressing on schedule, Ammons said. The refurbished Rush Hall dormitory, with 82 beds, is scheduled to reopen next fall. Also, the Latham dorm parking lot on Lawson Avenue should be open by the end of this month, providing 291 parking spaces, he said.
Besides BRITE, campus building projects now in the design phase include an overhaul of Eagleson dormitory, Pearson Cafeteria and the Hoey administration building, Ammons said.
Trustees also approved a new master's degree program in computer science, a licensure concentration in literacy as a part of teacher training, and an Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute in the School of Law.
In other business, Nancy Wysenski, president of EMD Pharmaceuticals, was sworn in as a new trustee.
Microsoft Provides Academia With $1 Million to Advance Research Relevant to Virtual Earth and Trustworthy Computing
Feb. 16, 2006
Carolina Newswire
By staff report
© Copyright 2006
REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) today announced the recipients of approximately $1 million in academic research funding. Through a request for proposal (RFP) process, Microsoft is encouraging academic research focused on advancing Microsoft(R) Virtual Earth(TM) technology as well as developing Trustworthy Computing curriculum projects. The 23 grant recipients represent universities from countries around the world, including in Belgium, India, Russia, South Korea and the United States. The eight winners of the Virtual Earth RFP will receive a total of $300,000 (U.S.), while the 15 winners of the Trustworthy Computing RFP will receive a total of $750,000 (U.S.). The maximum individual grant amount for each RFP is $50,000 (U.S.).
"We invest in innovative research,
collaborate with academia and governments to advance education, cultivate
next-generation IT leaders, and
partner to build knowledge economies," said Sailesh Chutani, director
of
theExternal Research & Programs group within Microsoft Research. "We
have
thelargest RFP program in the IT industry and are very committed to advancingstate-of-the-art
computing."
Virtual Earth RFP Winners to Advance
Virtual Earth Technologies The Virtual Earth RFP, initiated and funded by
Microsoft's Virtual Earth
and Local Search business units, is designed to encourage university research
in areas relevant to digital geography, including spatio-temporal databases,
routing, computer vision, ontologies, map user interfaces and visualization.
"Virtual Earth is one of the
most exciting and challenging projects Microsoft has ever undertaken," said
Gur Kimchi, software architect in the
Virtual Earth business unit at Microsoft. "A strong academic collaboration
program ensures that we have the smartest and brightest minds working with
us to enable this revolutionary technology."
Virtual Earth is Microsoft's innovative mapping and local search platform that enables consumers, enterprises, independent software vendors and Web developers to harness state-of-the-art local search, mapping and location technologies. A great example of the Virtual Earth platform at work is the Microsoft Windows Live(TM) Local consumer destination site. The Virtual Earth platform provides unique immersive visuals and easy-to-use search, mapping, sharing and driving directions features. Windows Live Local is based on the Virtual Earth platform.
The eight winners of the Virtual
Earth RFP will conduct basic research in digital geographics that is expected
to advance the state of the art.
"This award from an industry-leading player in online mapping provides anincredible
opportunity for us to work with the high-caliber scientists atMicrosoft Research," said
Cyrus Shahabi, associate professor at the Universityof Southern California and
Virtual Earth RFP winner. Shahabi's work isdesigned not only to allow users to
navigate through a 3-D model but to askquestions and get information about a
geographic area seamlessly andeffortlessly. "We also hope Microsoft will
integrate the technologies that result from this project into Virtual Earth,
so the benefits go both ways."
The following eight people are the Virtual Earth RFP winners:
-- Maneesh Agrawala, University of California, Berkeley (United States)
-- Frank Dellaert, Georgia Institute of Technology (United States)
-- Dieter Fox, University of Washington (United States)
-- David Mark, University of Buffalo (United States)
-- P.J. Narayanan, Indian Institute of Information Technology-Hyderabad (India)
-- Hanan Samet, University of Maryland (United States)
-- Shashi Shekhar, University of Minnesota (United States)
-- Cyrus Shahabi, University of Southern California (United States)
Advancing the State of the Art of Trustworthy Computing
This year's Trustworthy Computing RFP is the second in a series of Trustworthy Computing and software engineering curriculum RFPs. The first program focused on the creation of Trustworthy Computing curricula with broad appeal; this year the program focused on advancing Trustworthy Computing by developing innovative technology and policy in five areas: business integrity, privacy, reliability, security and secure software engineering.
The winners of this year's programs and their area of focus follow:
Business Integrity
-- Aura Ganz, University of Massachusetts (United States)
-- Connie Justice, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Center
for Education and Research in Information Assurance and
Security (CERIAS) (United States) -- Linda Morales, Texas A&M University,
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (United States)
Privacy
-- Beomsoo Kim, Yonsei University (South Korea)
-- Nora Rifon, Michigan State University (United States)
-- Paul Schwartz, University of California, Berkeley (United States)
Reliability
-- Tao Li, University of Florida (United States)
-- George Rouskas and Rudra Dutta, North Carolina State University (United States)
-- Mehmet Sahinoglu, Troy University, Purdue, Case Western Reserve University,
Texas A&M University (United States)
Security
-- Lorrie Cranor, Michael Reiter and Jason Hong, Carnegie Mellon University
(United States)
-- Guevara Noubir and Ravi Sundaram; Northeastern University (United States)
-- Alfred Weaver, University of Virginia (United States)
Secure Software Engineering
-- Yan Chen, Fabian Bustamante and Peter Dinda, Northwestern University (United
States)
-- Frank Piessens, Wouter Joosen and Pierre Verbaeten; Katholieke Universiteit
Leuven (Belgium)
-- Vladimir Safonov, St. Petersburg University (Russia)
The Microsoft Research RFP: Investing,
Collaborating and Cultivating In addition to Virtual Earth and Trustworthy
Computing, the Microsoft
External Research & Programs group will soon announce the winners of its
$1.2 million (U.S.) Digital Inclusion RFP, which empowers academic researchers
worldwide to tackle technological challenges to positively affect health, education
and socioeconomic conditions.
Other recent funding programs have included Computer Gaming Production Curriculum, ConferenceXP, Phoenix, Tablet PC and Computing Curriculum, and Excellence in Software Engineering.
Today's funding is part of the
External Research & Programs group's broader collaboration model, one
that underscores Microsoft's ongoing
commitment to investing deeply in innovative research. The group provided
almost $4 million in IT research funding through the administration of six
RFPs in
the past fiscal year. Over the past two years the External Research& Programs
group has supported more than 125 research projects at universities around
the world in areas ranging from social computing and gaming to robotics and
digital inclusion.
The External Research & Programs
group is divided into three geographic regions. Chutani leads the North America,
Latin America and India region, and is based
in Redmond, Wash. Along with funding university research in specific areas,
Chutani's group offers a variety of global and regional initiatives and programs,
including working with faculty around the world on curriculum, hosting academic
conferences and workshops, and providing internships as well as doctorate
and faculty fellowships. In the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, the
focus of the Cambridge, England-based group is on developing relationships
primarily with the European Science Initiative and on creating,
leading and accelerating fundamental innovation through collaboration. The
Asia Pacific team, based in Beijing, China, focuses on developing and improving
computer curriculum and advancing research in computer science.
About Microsoft Research
Founded in 1991, Microsoft Research is dedicated to conducting both basic
and applied research in computer science and software engineering. Its
goals are
to enhance the user experience on computing devices, reduce the cost of writing
and maintaining software, and invent novel computing technologies.
Researchers focus on more than 55 areas of computing and collaborate with leading academic, government and industry researchers to advance the state of the art in such areas as graphics, speech recognition, user-interface research, natural language processing, programming tools and methodologies, operating systems and networking, and the mathematical sciences. Microsoft Research employs more than 700 people in five labs located in Redmond, Wash.; Silicon Valley, Calif.; Cambridge, England; Beijing; and Bangalore, India. The External Research & Programs group within Microsoft Research is dedicated to building world-class relationships with colleges and universities that enhance the teaching and learning experience, inspire technological innovation, and establish Microsoft as a valuable technology partner for higher education. More information can be found at http://www.research.microsoft.com .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services and
solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
NOTE: Microsoft, Virtual Earth and Windows Live are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.