Jerry Sanders gets the chair

LARRY (SORRY, JERRY) SANDERS !!! head honcho of AMD is getting the electric chair. And not before time. Plucky Jerry has been honoured with the chair in electrical and computer engineering at his alma mater, the University of Illinois. Sanders got a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the University back in 1958.

And it would be cynical in the extreme to suggest that Larry had bought the honour. The annual Jerry Sanders Design Competition has students from engineering schools around the country looking to test their engineering skills and AMD sponsors computing research programmes. The snappily-named W.J. 'Jerry' Sanders III-Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Endowed Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering 'reinforces Jerry's place as one of the leaders in the semiconductor industry who helped shape the way we use technology today,' says Rob Herb, head of sales and marketing at AMD.

"Jerry's career and the culture he has helped create at AMD are a testament to the power of innovation, the belief that that no one [do they mean Intel? - Ed] has a monopoly on good ideas, and the value of the individual. The W.J. 'Jerry' Sanders III-Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Endowed Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering was created in this spirit, helping produce the next generation of engineering innovators.''

And just in case the design competition and research programmes didn't carry enough weight, AMD will hand over a cool 2.5 million dollars over the next five years for the creation of the W.J. 'Jerry' Sanders III-Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Endowed Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering, in order that Larry can be honoured to sit in it. µ