Rockwell, UWM finally teaming up: $1 million grant aimed at fostering technology research program.

Byline: John Schmid

Jan. 23--Rockwell Automation's chief executive flew halfway around the world this month to cut a ribbon at a technology lab at the University of Pune in India, where the Milwaukee-based company aims to train engineering students and hire them when they graduate.

Such long-haul trips have become commonplace for Rockwell executives, who for years have endowed research centers at top engineering schools across Asia, Europe and the United States. Rockwell has 29 alliances with research universities in China alone.

Conspicuous by its absence in Rockwell's global strategy, until now, has been the largest university in the company's own hometown.

The industrial automation concern is preparing to announce this week a $1 million grant to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as a first step toward a technology research program tailored to bolster the region's manufacturing industry, Rockwell and UWM officials said.

"We have agreed to work with the university to help them shape the teaching and …