SCARF stands for State College Area Radio Frequency Consortium. SCARF was established by The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) to foster closer research and engineering collaboration between Penn State and industry partners in the State College area (and beyond).
Motivation for Establishing SCARF
A unique opportunity exists in the State College Area for engendering significant mutual collaboration and cooperation in the area of radio frequency (RF) and wireless technologies. These technologies are advancing at a very rapid rate and are becoming more and more ubiquitous. Clearly, everyone is using some form of RF/wireless technology in their day-to-day personal as well as professional lives. This technology is here to stay, and therefore it behooves anyone interested and working in this technology to be aware of possible collaboration partners nearby in order to take advantage of new business opportunities.
The School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) as well as the Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) at Penn State are at the forefront of this technology, with several faculty members actively engaged in research sponsored by government and industry sources. Also of note is the fact that there are several high-tech companies in the local area. The basic and fundamental research and much of what we do here at Penn State has direct relevance to what local companies are engaged in the business front. Furthermore, local companies can provide knowledge of the business opportunities to Penn State faculty and students. Thus, SCARF can serve as a vehicle to support mutual collaboration between Penn State and local industry and even extended to industry beyond the Penn State region.
Value Proposition to Stakeholders
- Reach top-quality students for on-campus or on-site internships with faculty members serving as academic mentors.
- Support relevant student projects of interest through our Capstone Senior Design Project course, with faculty members serving as advisors.
- Target top-quality undergraduate and graduate students for future employment.
- Collectively sponsor visits by distinguished professionals in the area of RF and wireless technologies to present symposium talks
- Facilitate factory/lab visits for students as part of the curriculum to not only provide a real-world learning experience but also help build continuous engagement with students that could become potential future interns or employees.
- Use of human, equipment, or facilities resources available with other Consortium members either free of charge or on a reduced fee basis.
Larger Benefits
Several larger benefits are noted, as follows:
- Local economic development.
- Attracting high-tech companies to the local area.
- Establishment of start-ups in the local area.
- Opportunities to obtain significant funding from agencies such as NSF specifically targeted towards university-industry partnerships and collaborations.
- Opportunities to obtain SBIR funds from various agencies to explore new high technology paradigms.
- Enhancing the intellectual database in the local area in emerging technologies.
Long-Term Vision
The long-term visions are:
- to increase the number of current and new local industry member participants so that the benefits of the consortium are available to more companies,
- to establish the State College area as an important technological center in the nation for research and development in RF, wireless, and related technologies.
The goal is to make the consortium self-supporting using membership fees only.
Contact:
Professor Ram M. Narayanan
Director, SCARF
Professor of Electrical Engineering
School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
202 Electrical Engineering East Building
Tel: 814-863-2602
Email: rmn12@psu.edu
Priya Baboo
Associate Director, SCARF
Director of Industry, Innovation, and Development
College of Engineering
112A Hammond Building
Tel: 814-863-9142
Email: pzb104@psu.edu