The University at Buffalo has announced a $1.5 million gift from alumnus Erich Bloch to endow a chair in its new Department of Materials Design and Innovation.

The gift will establish the Erich Bloch Endowed Chair and support the hiring of a world-class scholar and researcher to lead the MDI department, an interdisciplinary program that aims to address regional and national demand for new materials and accelerate research and education in advanced manufacturing and biotechnology. A collaborative effort between the university's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and College of Arts and Sciences, the department will build on UB's research expertise to discover, develop, and bring to market new materials that are critical to the economic security of the region, nation, and world.

Bloch earned a bachelor's of science in electrical engineering from UB in 1952 and was an executive at IBM before becoming the director of the National Science Foundation from 1984 to 1990. In 1985, he received the National Medal of Technology, now known as the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

"New and improved materials, with increased functionality, lower costs, lighter weights, and lowered environmental impacts, play a critical role in advanced manufacturing and biotechnology," said Liesl Folks, dean of the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. "We now stand on the cusp of being able to greatly accelerate the development of these new materials using advanced computational tools, and UB's new department of MDI will play a leadership role in this field and in training the next generation of materials scientists and engineers."