Carnes Give $125,000 For Alumni Center

8-21-97
University Park, Pa. -- Penn State alumnus James Carnes and his wife, Nancy, of Pennington, N.J., have committed $125,000 to the University to help build a new alumni center.

James Carnes is president and CEO of the David Sarnoff Research Center, an industry- and government-supported electronics research firm based in Princeton, N.J. He earned a bachelor's degree in engineering science from Penn State in 1961 and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Princeton in 1970. Nancy Carnes is a native of Middlebush, N.J.

The alumni center is planned as an addition to University House on the University Park campus, and will be financed entirely by private funds. Although Penn State has the largest dues-paying alumni association in the world -- more than 140,000 members -- it is one of the few major universities that has no dedicated alumni center.

"Nancy and I are excited about the prospects for an alumni center at Penn State and pleased to help make it possible," Carnes said.

The center will serve as a gathering point for returning alumni and offer information about the University's academic achievements, campus tours and special events. It will contain meeting rooms, a hall of honor recognizing outstanding alumni and space for alumni association staff. The structure's estimated cost is $7 million. Linda O'Gwynn Architects of Philadelphia will design the center, and construction could begin as early as 1998.

A native of Hagerstown, Md., Carnes served in the U.S. Navy following graduation from Penn State. Starting in 1969, he worked in various divisions and locations with RCA, from which the Sarnoff Center was later created as a subsidiary of SRI International. The center's research focuses on such areas as High Definition Television (HDTV), interactive multimedia, digital video over satellite and cable, flat panel displays, solid state lasers and infrared imaging systems.

Carnes holds nine U.S. patents, has authored more than 100 technical papers and presentations and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He has received the David Sarnoff Award for Outstanding Technical Achievement and was named a Distinguished Alumnus and an Outstanding Alumnus of the College of Engineering by Penn State.

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