T.J. Rodgers Funds MIT Research Laboratory In Electronics

WOODSIDE, Calif., Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- T.J. Rodgers, founding CEO of Cypress Semiconductor Corporation, today announced an agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to fund the "T.J. Rodgers RLE Laboratory" with a $5 million gift. The Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE) is MIT's leading entrepreneurial interdisciplinary research organization.

$3.5 million of Rodgers' $5 million gift derives from the payment received by Rodgers under the Cooperation and Settlement Agreement reached with the Cypress Board of Directors following the election by Cypress shareholders of Rodgers' two nominees to the Cypress Board on June 20, 2017.

Rodgers said, "The Research Laboratory in Electronics (RLE) at MIT is a hallowed institution that invented 10-centimeter radar as part of our World War II effort.  It is a cross-functional laboratory that applies electronics to fields of science, including quantum computation, biomedical science, atomic physics, photonic materials and energy.  I am proud to help MIT redesign and enhance the RLE laboratory with advanced equipment. I strongly believe this laboratory will change our lives."

MIT Professor of Electrical Engineering Marc Baldo said, "It is a great privilege and responsibility to serve as Director for the MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics.  We are proud of our origins in the RadLab and proud of our continuing tradition of creatively tackling important problems.  Dr. Rodgers' gift will prepare us for the next frontiers.  This new facility within RLE will demand that we excel, and we are very grateful for the opportunities this new facility will create for generations to come."

MIT Professor of Electrical Engineering Steven Leeb said, "America's research universities are our society's gift to itself, the fertile fields that help provide technology to enhance human abilities and enrich all our lives.   We are incredibly fortunate to live in a nation that has thrived not only through collective courage, craft and commitment, but also through intellect and invention.   Dr. Rodgers' has spent his life as a leader and innovator creating value in and through technology, and making opportunity available for others.  I am beside myself with gratitude in recognizing his genius, his generosity, and his grace in repeatedly opening doors for the next generations.  This gift will create a new proving ground for our faculty and students and thereby bring new technical miracles to fruition."

About T.J. Rodgers

T.J. Rodgers was the founding CEO of Cypress Semiconductor Corporation in 1982 and served as the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer until April 2016. He is a former chairman of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and SunPower Corp. and currently sits on the boards of directors of high-technology companies, including Bloom Energy (fuel cells), Enphase (solar energy electronics), WaterBit (precision agriculture), Enovix (silicon lithium-ion batteries), FTC (utility-scale solar power plants) and NexGen Power Systems (gallium nitride power transistors). He has been honored for his foundational support over a 20-year period of the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties and the California Association of African American Educators. Rodgers received his bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College, graduating as salutatorian with majors in chemistry and physics. He received his master's degree and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University, where he invented the VMOS technology, which was licensed by American Microsystems, Inc.

About RLE

Founded in 1946 as the MIT Radiation Laboratory (RadLab), RLE has played a pivotal role both operationally (during wartime) and in basic research (during peacetime) on multiple fronts on physical electronics, including microwave physics, cathodes, electronic emission, and gaseous conduction. In recent years, RLE researchers have earned the Nobel prize and have been awarded the National Medal of Science. Recent research has included noted advances in ultracold atoms, condensates, haptic signaling, optical coherence tomography for medical imaging, and organic and inorganic nanostructures. 

SOURCE T.J. Rodgers