Coherent, a technology company with a factory in Palmer Township, is donating $500,000 to advance diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
The laser and semiconductor materials maker will support a foundation that promotes entrepreneurship at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and will donate to scholarship programs for black scientists.
Coherent will provide $375,000 to support academic programs at HBCUs and minority institutions that prepare African Americans and other minorities to become leaders and entrepreneurs. Funding, equipment, and in-kind support will be donated to the Leadership Needed Foundation.
An additional $125,000 will go toward Optica Foundation Amplify scholarships for Black scientists. The program awarded scholarships to his 35 science and engineering students from 21 countries. Coherent’s donation increases the prize from his $7,500 to his $10,000.
“Possibilities are universal, but resources are not,” Dr. Vincent Matera Jr., Coherent’s chairman and chief executive officer, said April 19 at an event in Atlanta.
“The single greatest privilege of my career has been helping to develop talent,” Matera said. “I have taught classes at HBCUs, and that experience has reminded me that our greatest talents are unleashed when we let our imaginations run wild. Young people who love discovery and possibility. It is our responsibility to help create opportunities for people.”
Coherent is based in Saxonburg, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. The company’s stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol COHR.
Friday’s closing price was $55.06, giving the company a market capitalization of $8.36 billion. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has traded as high as $67.94 and as low as $26.29.
