Kawasaki Endows M.l.T. Research Fund With Gift Of $200,000

Kawasaki Heavy I n d u s t r i e s , Ltd., a major Japanese firm, has agreed to endow a research fund at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a gift of $200,000.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries is a machinery manufacturer whose principal business lines are ships, aircraft, rolling stock, buses, engines, construction m a c h i n e r y , marine machinery, industrial machinery, atomic energy machinery, oil hydraulic machinery, medical equipment and steel products.

Its name is widely known in the United States for its motorcycles.

Research areas at M.l.T. which the fund may support are the development of high-strength materials for future ocean structures, the applications to critical structures of advanced fabrication techniques, such as electron beam and laser processes, and the development of reliability criteria for welded structures.

The fund will be administered through the office of the dean of the M.l.T. School of Engineering.

M.l.T. has a long history of involvement in ocean and marine engineering and research. Its program for naval architecture and marine engineering — the first of its kind in the United States — was founded in 1893. It has evolved into one of the world's foremost schools of naval architecture.

In 1968, M.l.T. received the first project grant awarded by the newly formed National Sea Grant Program, and in December 1976 became the first private institution of higher learning to become a Sea Grant College.

Dr. Koichi Masubuchi, professor of ocean engineering and materials science in M.I.T.'s Department of Ocean Engineering, was involved in the initial discussion of this project with Kawasaki officials.

The agreement that led to the establishment of the fund was signed by Dr. Toshio Yoshida, managing director of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and by Lt. Gen.

James B. Lampert, USA (ret.), M.l.T. vice president for resource development.

Other stories from November 15, 1977 issue

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