Sep 15 2010
Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), the world's leading university-research consortium for semiconductors and related technologies, today announced the top professors in chip research for 2010.
Selected by SRC’s 12 member companies and the SRC staff, the faculty and research teams are honored for their exemplary impact on semiconductor productivity through cultivation of technology and talent. The awards were presented during SRC’s annual TECHCON technology conference that features next-generation research progress among hundreds of university students, faculty and industry experts.
The Aristotle Award is given to SRC-funded university faculty that has profoundly and continuously impacted their students’ professional performances in a way that provides long-term benefit to the SRC member companies. This year’s recipient of the Aristotle Award is Professor Mark Lundstrom of Purdue University, who has prepared hundreds of students for research leadership in the rapidly developing areas of nanotechnology.
The Technical Excellence Award recognizes researchers who have made key contributions to technologies that significantly enhance the productivity of the semiconductor industry. This year’s award is presented to Professor Li-C Wang of the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) and his former research assistants Pouri Bastani and Benjamin Lee. The UCSB team’s work in Data Mining and Learning for Test and Validation has led to development of practical tools and methodologies used to solve several challenging problems faced by many SRC members.
“Expectations of academia continue to grow as universities contribute more and more to the industry’s progress,” said Steve Hillenius, executive vice president for SRC. “These highly valued researchers, selected by industry leaders, are relied upon to deliver both the basic research and the world-class talent that will continue to propel the future of both the semiconductor industry as well as society.”
“SRC provides a fundamental base from which so many game-changing ideas have grown,” said Lundstrom. “With SRC’s proven model of collaboration among academia and industry, students have opportunities to work on some of the most interesting and important problems there are. They also gain an understanding of industry that is rare in academia, and the results of their research are more quickly accepted for real-world application.”
“The interaction with SRC companies makes our efforts more easily accountable and more quickly integrated into the industry’s solutions,” said Wang. “SRC has become indispensable as we help students to increasingly benefit the world’s leading semiconductor businesses.”
Held in Austin, Texas, TECHCON brings together the brightest minds in microelectronics research to exchange news about the progress of new materials and processes created by SRC’s network of more than 100 of the top engineering universities. Students and industry leaders discuss basic research that is intended to accelerate advancements for both private and public entities. The presentation of the Aristotle and Technical Excellence awards at TECHCON reflects the purpose of the event, which is to enable future generations of chip technology.
More than 8,000 students have been prepared by SRC programs, professors and mentors for entry into the semiconductor business. These students provide a path for technology transfer and a source of relevantly educated technical talent for the industry.
Source: http://www.src.org/