By Dan Adkins

Gartner Inc. Senior Vice President Lew Schwartz, second from right, is joined by UK Engineering Dean Tom Lester, UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. and Gartner Endowed Chair in Network Engineering Mukesh Singhal.

The firm's 1998 gift of $900,000 was one of the first private gifts to qualify for state matching funds from the Commonwealth's Research Challenge Trust Fund (RCTF). The RCTF matching funds combined with Gartner's gift created a total of $1.8 million for the endowed chair.

July 30, 2002 (Lexington, Ky.) -- University of Kentucky President Lee T. Todd Jr. today welcomed representatives of Gartner Inc., the internationally distinguished information technology research firm, to the UK campus.

The visit was hallmarked by an opportunity for Gartner officials Lew Schwartz, senior vice president and general counsel; and Doug Hurley, GartnerG2 director, to meet Mukesh Singhal, Ph.D., an internationally distinguished research scholar appointed to the UK College of Engineering Department of Computer Science Gartner Endowed Chair in Network Engineering. To date, UK is the only university to receive Gartner funding for an endowed chair.

The firm's 1998 gift of $900,000 also has the distinction of being one of the first private gifts to qualify for state matching funds from the Commonwealth's Research Challenge Trust Fund (RCTF). The RCTF matching funds combined with Gartner's gift created a total of $1.8 million for the endowed chair.

The funds not only provided support for research in advanced network engineering, but also for leadership in developing a cross-disciplinary curriculum to provide students with a wide range of relevant networking experiences.

Singhal was appointed to the endowed chair in 2001. He brings to the university nationally and internationally recognized expertise in areas mirroring primary national information technology priorities: network and information security, distributed computing systems and wireless networks.

Prior to joining UK, Singhal was the program director of the Operating Systems and Compilers Program of The Directorate of Computer and Information Science and Engineering at the National Science Foundation, as well as a full professor in the Department of Computer and Information Science at The Ohio State University.

Gartner Inc. is a research and advisory firm that helps more than 10,500 clients understand technology and drive business growth. Gartner's businesses consist of Gartner Research, Gartner Consulting, Gartner Measurement and Gartner Events. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Conn., and has 4,000 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants, in more than 90 locations worldwide. Fiscal 2001 revenue totaled $963 million. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.