Texas Tech College receives $9M for nanophotonics research

Texas Tech University’s College of Engineering has received a $9M package — $2M from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (TETF), $5.35M from AT&T, and a $2M commitment from the university — to attract a team of world-class faculty researchers in the field of nanophotonics. These researchers will be part of the university’s Nano Tech Center.

Two of the researchers will be Hongxing Jiang and Jingyu Lin, currently professors at Kansas State University. Their corporation, III-N Technology Inc., was founded in 2001 to commercialize the research team’s innovations, including AC-driven LED devices.

Nano Tech Center co-director Mark Holtz said the Texas Tech research will lead to “new discoveries which will find immediate use in miniature, efficient and bright light sources, as well as extremely sensitive light detectors.” He said that each of these has applications that are important to the nation’s well-being and the state’s economic development in the high tech area.

At Gov. Rich Perry’s request, the TETF was established by the Texas Legislature in 2005 to enhance the research and commercialization of emerging technologies in Texas.