A mentor in the field of information technology hopes to foster a new generation of professors with his gift to establish an endowed research chair in information technology.

Doug Barber, an engineer, professor and entrepreneur, and Gennum Corp. of Burlington, Ont. have donated $1.3 million to McMaster University to create the Barber-Gennum Chair in Information Technology.

Barber, one of the founders of Gennum Corp., believes the only way to ensure there are enough highly-skilled people working in the information technology sector is to make sure there are enough professors available to teach them.

“There is a great danger of losing our capability to educate people because the demand for knowledge workers has exceeded the supply,” said Barber, former chair of McMaster's Board of Governors and Distinguished Professor-in-Residence. “We have lost many from the academic world to industry. The whole idea is to make sure there is an opportunity for young people who are knowledgeable and want to become university professors to be supported and make the academic world attractive to them.”

The endowed chair is for a five-year term, non-renewable, and eligible candidates cannot have held a tenured appointment at any university.

The inaugural chairholder is Ian Bruce, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, who is researching biomedical engineering. Bruce is studying the neurobiology of hearing loss with colleagues in psychology, electrical & computer engineering and Gennum Corp. to design better hearing aids.

“The creation of this research chair is a testament to Doug Barber's generosity of spirit and vision,” said Mo Elbestawi, dean of the Faculty of Engineering. “The support of Doug and Gennum Corp. is integral to helping us expand the Faculty of Engineering as a centre for leadership in research, innovation and education of our next generation of engineers.”

Mike Fielding, executive vice-president at Gennum Corp., said his company's support of the chair is a natural fit.

“We have a long track record of supporting universities, professors and research and we're the largest single funder of microelectronics research in the country,” said Fielding, a McMaster alumnus.
“We are a company with academic roots, we employ many scientists and we need a steady supply of new graduates and post-graduates. This initiative made sense.”

Gennum Corp., a Canadian high technology company, designs, manufactures and markets silicon integrated circuits and modules and thin-film hybrid circuits for a variety of specialized processing applications.

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Photo:(left to right) June Barber, Ian Bruce, Doug Barber, President Peter George, Mo Elbestawi, Mike Fielding

Photo by Scott Gardner