UNLV's Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering announced Friday that Intel Corp. has made two gifts to the college - a donation of more than $25,000 in wireless equipment, and a $250,000 scanning electron microscope for use in the university's new nanotechnology lab.

The wireless equipment donation will allow the College of Engineering to be the first academic unit on campus to become wireless - permitting students and faculty to access the Web and e-mail anywhere within the engineering complex.

The AMRAY scanning electron microscope (SEM) will be used for the semiconductor device characterization by Biswajit Das of the department of electrical and computer engineering. The SEM will be a key instrument for research and education in nanotechnology and is expected to be operational at UNLV within a month. Intel previously used the SEM in its manufacturing process.

The gifts were acknowledged at a special presentation made at a meeting of the College of Engineering Advisory Board, during which the multimedia presentation was run through some of the wireless equipment donated by Intel.

Instrumental in securing the gifts for the college were Deanna Sauceda, communication and project manager for Intel's Community Solutions; Alexander Marquez, director of media and entertainment for Intel Capital, who is a graduate of UNLV and chair of the college's Electrical and Computer Engineering Advisory Board; and Rod Sanchez, site special projects manager for Intel in public affairs.