The van Eck Professorship of Engineering is a professorship in engineering at the University of Cambridge. Founded in 2001, it is intended to complement the university's work in communications systems and software research within the Department of Engineering and elsewhere. The chair was established through a US$3.5 million bequest from U.S. businessman Fred van Eck, whose estate provided funds to create a professorship in the field of advanced science and technology with an emphasis on high-speed communications. Van Eck, who died on 15 March 2000, was an American citizen with substantial business interests in the United States and the Netherlands. The professorship replaces the Professorship of Engineering created in 1965, which has been temporarily suspended.[1]