Finmeccanica company Selex ES (formerly Ferranti) is joining forces with Heriot Watt University to fund and create the “Selex ES Professorial Chair in Laser Devices and Engineering” at the university’s School of Engineering. Dr Daniel Esser will take up the position in May and will lead a research group to develop innovative new laser technology.
Selex ES, at its site on Crewe Toll, is at the forefront of laser design and production with customers all over the world including in the US. One of the reasons the company produces such advanced laser products is due to its world-class laser research programme and this in turn is boosted by Selex ES’s links with leading academic institutions.
“A close partnership with a first-class university such as Heriot-Watt is vital to access emerging technology for future product development and to further strengthen our position as an innovative technology supplier” said Selex ES’s Chief Technologist for Electro-Optics Professor Robert Lamb. Results from the research on future innovative emerging laser technology will support the company’s laser designation business.
The chair builds on Selex ES’s significant work with academic institutions aimed at inspiring the next generation of engineering talent. This is the second chair sponsored by Selex ES, the first being the Selex ES/Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair in Signal Processing at Edinburgh University. The company also plays a strong role in initiatives such as the annual Edinburgh International Science Festival and Big Bang Fair and regularly hosts schools for its “Rampaging Chariots” robot building competitions. The schemes are well regarded and successful – many of the company’s laser and signal processing engineers graduated at Heriot-Watt and Edinburgh universities.
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