General Electric (GE) engineer Mark Adamiak '75, M.Eng. '76, recipient of the 2008 GE Edison Award, has given $12,500 to Cornell to support power-system engineering education.

The award, which Adamiak received last May, recognized his work in developing GE products that ensure stable electric power grids. It came with $25,000 that Adamiak could give to a university of his choice; he gave half to Cornell and the other half to Virginia Tech.

Adamiak's degrees from Cornell are in electrical engineering, and he cites mentorship from professors, coursework and a co-op at American Electric Power as foundations for his career.

"What I got from Cornell was the ability to learn," said Adamiak, who works outside of Valley Forge, Pa. "I've taken what I started with and built on top of it."

With Adamiak's gift, the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering plans to create, in honor of one of Adamiak's mentors, the Sam Linke Lecture on Power Energy series, according to professor of electrical and computer engineering Robert Thomas. Adamiak is scheduled to give the first lecture Feb. 17.