With NASA donation Citadel to establish microwave test laboratory

         Plans are underway in The Citadels Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering to establish a microwave test laboratory similar to that at the NASA laboratory at Langley Research Center. The laboratory will be used for classroom instruction and lab experiments such as designing spacecraft antennas, measuring the radar cross section of complex aerospace targets, and characterizing materials for electromagnetic application.

          The opportunity for the college was granted when it received a tremendous gift of approximately $400,000 worth of equipment from the Langley Research Center in June. 

         Thomas G. Campbell, head of the Electromagnetics Research Branch at the Langley Research Center and a graduate of The Citadel class of 1961, suggested to former classmate Col. Harold Askins, head of The Citadel Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, that The Citadel qualify to benefit from a program that allows government research laboratories to transfer equipment to colleges and universities for conducting technical and scientific education and research activities. The Citadel was approved and when the NASA Langley electromagnetic test range was upgraded, The Citadel received 53 pieces of test equipment valued at approximately $400,000.