News Briefs (March 29, 2006)

Nam Tai Electronics Inc., a manufacturer of electronics for the telecommunications and consumer electronics industries, has signed an agreement with the Guangming Hi-Tech Industrial Park in Shenzhen, China, to buy 1.3 million sq ft of land to expand its existing factory. The land transfer is expected to be completed by the fall. The company said it will begin construction by the end the year, with the first phase, estimated at more than $150 million, completed in the summer of 2008 and the second phase in the summer of 2010. . . . Surface Technology Systems plc (STS), a Newport, Wales-based developer of systems incorporating semiconductor production technologies for telecommunications, data storage, advanced packaging, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and nanotechnology, announced that it has received an order worth over £2 million ($3.4 million) from an unnamed manufacturer for MEMS production equipment. The order includes multiple Pegasus processing chambers for deep silicon micromachining of MEMS for use in consumer products. The company said it now has over £12.1 million ($21 million) in orders on the books, its highest amount since 2001. . . . University of Rochester juniors Elise B. Peterson and Stephen Privitera have been named 2006 Barry M. Goldwater Scholars out of a pool of 1081 applicants. The Goldwater Scholarship, endowed by Congress to honor the late senator, awards scholarships to students who intend to pursue science, math or engineering careers. Peterson, of Portsmouth, Va., is pursuing a BS in molecular genetics and a BA in history and plans to teach and do genetics research. Privitera, a resident of East Aurora, N.Y., is pursuing an honors BA in math and a BS in physics. He is now working on a theoretical astrophysics research project and intends to pursue a doctoral degree in applied mathematics or theoretical physics and then teach and do research. Since 2000, 14 Rochester undergraduates have been named Goldwater Scholars.