9/26/2016 Daniel Dexter, ECE ILLINOIS
Written by Daniel Dexter, ECE ILLINOIS
ECE Professor Scott Carney received two prestigious campus honors: the Engineering at Illinois Faculty Entrepreneurial Fellowship and the University Scholar distinction.
Funded by a group of passionate alumni, the Faculty Entrepreneurial Fellows program allows faculty to rotate out of the classroom and other service to the University for at least year to focus on taking a developing technology and evaluate its commercial potential.
Carney is one of four new Fellows for the 2016-17 year. He will explore confocal microscopy, which is a widely used optical imaging technique. His team has developed a quantitative-phase confocal system that is robust, easily implemented and fast that opens the door to new capabilities in confocal microscopy. The technology has commercialization potential. To that end, the team will develop a universal system extension and present it to the major OEM manufacturers for feedback.
In addition, the scholars program recognizes faculty excellence on the three University of Illinois campuses and provides $15,000 to each scholar for each of three years to enhance his or her academic career. The money may be used for travel, equipment, research assistants, books or other purposes.
“People all over the world associate the University of Illinois with the quality of our outstanding faculty,” said Barbara Wilson, executive vice president for academic affairs. “The University Scholars program honors a select group of faculty for their wide-ranging achievements as researchers, instructors, mentors and leaders of broader academic communities.”