Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation announced today an endowment of $750,000 to establish the Sikorsky Professorship at the Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

"Sikorsky Aircraft and United Technologies Corporation, our parent company, are committed to the advancement of rotorcraft research and development in the United States," said Mark Miller, Sikorsky's vice president of research and engineering. "Georgia Tech is one of only three universities in the U.S. designated as having a Rotorcraft Center of Excellence, funded by the National Rotorcraft Technology Center and comprised of students, faculty and staff who focus on rotorcraft-related education and research. Through this professorship, our goal is to increase the visibility of, and access to, leading-edge U.S. research and development in rotary wing technologies."

"It is an honor, indeed, for us to have the Sikorsky name associated with a Professorship at Georgia Tech," said Robert Loewy, the William R. T. Oakes School Chair of the Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering. "We look forward with confidence to the incumbent being inspired, as we are, to making the greatest contributions possible to rotary wing engineering."

The institute is expected to name the Sikorsky Professor in 2005. The recipient will hold the rank of Assistant Professor or Associate Professor and will conduct rotorcraft-related research. Sikorsky will fund the endowment over three years.

Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, based in Stratford, Conn., is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of advanced helicopters for commercial, industrial and military uses. Its helicopters occupy a prominent position in the intermediate to heavy weight range.

Sikorsky is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX), of Hartford, Conn., which provides a broad range of high-technology products and support services to the aerospace and building systems industries.