Sponsors: NSF, Andersen Consulting, Bell Communications Research, Bell Northern Research, Computer Sciences Corporation, Digital Equipment Corporation, GTE Data Services, Grumman Melbourne Systems, Harris Corporation, IBM Corporation, Magnavox Electronic Systems Company, Northrop Electronic Systems Division, Siemens Corporate Research, Sun Microsystems, Inc., Army Research Lab Software Technology Branch, Westinghouse Savannah River Company
The Purdue University/University of Florida Software Engineering Research Center (SERC) is part of the National Science Foundation's Industry/University Cooperative Research Center program. SERC is devoted to software technology, more specifically, investigating the development and assessment of tools and methods for improving productivity and software quality throughout the life cycle. The SERC research program has been structured to improve the management of the software engineering process, the productivity of software engineers, and the quality of software engineering products.
A five-year grant totalling $500,000 was awarded by NSF to establish the Center. This is supplemented by annual membership fees of $30,000 per affiliated sponsor. These sponsors benefit via direct involvement in a highly leveraged, sponsor-guided research program; early access to research results applicable to sponsor needs; early contact with a new source of software engineers/researchers; technology transfer via personnel exchange programs, and seminars, talks, and short courses; opportunities to influence directions in software engineering educational developments; a world-wide window on new software engineering technology; and additional specific research under separate "contracts." The director of SERC is Dr. Richard A. DeMillo from Purdue University. SERC began operation in October, 1986.