Nicolaos Alexopoulos has big plans for UC Irvine.
You would think a $2 million endowment from the engineering school’s namesake to start an exchange program with Israel would be enough.
Not for Alexopoulos, dean of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering.
“I consider it to be just the beginning. I anticipate we’ll get more donors,” he said. “I assume we’ll get more endowments. It has a scope that is much larger than the universities in Israel.”
Henry Samueli is co-founder, chairman and chief technical officer of the Broadcom Corporation, a semiconductor company that works with wired and wireless technology.
He also owns the NHL Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks.
While the Samuelis’ gift has opened the door for students, faculty and researchers from UCI and major Israeli universities to visit each other’s campuses, Alexopoulos is aiming for $10 million in funds.
“The sooner the better,” he said. He is already in talks with two individuals he hopes will donate at least $1 million each, he said.
Two of Israel’s renowned schools have already signed up, Alexopoulos said: Technion, the MIT of Israel, and Tel Aviv University, the country’s largest school.
The program will boost engineering research and education through international collaboration between graduate students, research staff and world-renowned faculty, Alexopoulos said.
More are on the way, he said. Alexopoulos is in talks with Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and with a fourth school in a third country. He declined to identify which country or school.
“We learn from them, and they learn from us,” he said. “At the same time this has much bigger repercussions in international relations.”
As news of the Samuelis’ donation spread, Alexopoulos began fielding requests from engineering professors looking to make the trans-Atlantic journey to work with Israel’s top engineering minds. He declined to name them.
Set to begin in fall 2008, the school will allocate up to three researchers, departing or arriving with $30,000 to $50,000 a year for their research.
JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com.
