Cpl. Michael Jernigan's last memory from a day in August 2004 is patrolling a road in Mahmudiyah, Iraq. His next memory is six days later when he awoke in an army hospital in Bethesda, Md.

Cpl. Jernigan was blind and his head was crushed in the front.

Today, Cpl. Jernigan's left eye is a sewn shut eyelid. His right eye is a slit of white, the lid scarred.

Today, he demonstrated a device -- called BrainPort -- that restores "vision" through a sensor placed on his tongue, allowing him to identify objects and shapes. The device is one of many things the new University of Pittsburgh vision center will research thanks to a $3 million gift.

The Center for Vision Restoration of UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh received the gift from Louis J. Fox, a Pitt graduate. UPMC has pledged to match Mr. Fox's donation to the center.

Mr. Fox, a retired commodity merchant banker and trader, is supporting the center's mission to discover cures for blindness and vision impairment, according to a news release.

More than one in 10 of all combat wounds during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have been eye injuries and, in some cases, have left service members with impaired vision. Part of the center's research will be devoted to addressing those cases.