Pitt receives $5 million gift for nano institute

Feb. 21, 2006 – The University of Pittsburgh announced Monday that it received a $5 million gift from alumnus John Petersen and his wife, Gertrude, to create an endowment supporting research at Pitt’s Institute of NanoScience and Engineering. The institute was renamed the Gertrude E. and John M. Petersen Institute of NanoScience and Engineering.

John Petersen, the retired president and chief executive officer of the Erie Insurance Group in Erie, Pa., earned a degree in business administration at Pitt in 1951.

The institute was founded in 2002. Within the last three years, Pitt-developed nanotechnology has been licensed to three startup companies and one corporation. Fall 2006 will mark the opening of Pitt’s 4,000-square-foot nanoscale fabrication and characterization facility.

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