Purdue’s Kaushik Roy Receives SRC Aristotle Award

Prof. Kaushik Roy of Purdue Univ.

Purdue Engineering Professor Among Three Researchers Recognized at Annual SRC TECHCON Conference

(09/22/2015) – Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), the world's leading university-research consortium for semiconductors and related technologies, presented its highest honors Sept. 21 to professors from Purdue University and Stanford University at SRC’s annual TECHCON conference in Austin, Texas.

Dr. Kaushik Roy, the Edward Tiedemann Distinguished Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Purdue University, received this year’s SRC Aristotle Award for outstanding teaching and a deep commitment to the educational experience of his students. With SRC support, Roy’s team at Purdue has made numerous research contributions to the industry in areas including low-power electronics, scaled CMOS devices and circuits and spintronics.

Additionally, Dr. Muhammad A. Alam, the Jai N. Gupta professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue, and Dr. Subhasish Mitra, associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Department of Computer Science at Stanford University, were awarded SRC Technical Excellence Awards for their respective SRC-supported research.

Selected by SRC member companies and SRC staff, the award-winning faculty and research teams will be recognized for their exemplary impact on semiconductor productivity through cultivation of technology and talent.

“Advanced research has been instrumental in propelling the semiconductor industry forward, and we are recognizing these valuable researchers and their teams for the critical work they have performed in helping the industry achieve technological triumphs,” said Ken Hansen, SRC CEO and President.

Purdue and Stanford Research Helps Drive Technology Innovation

Sahar Naghibi From left: Steve Hillenius, Executive VP, SRC, Prof. Kaushik Roy of
Purdue Univ., Ken Hansen, President & CEO or SRC

Dr. Roy’s present research interests include spintronics, low-power electronics and brain and bio-inspired computing enabled by emerging technologies.

“We work on future technology generations, and I believe that tomorrow's thinking will be led by today's students,” said Dr. Roy. “When I work with students as true partners in projects, it builds their confidence in their own ideas and develops their sense of responsibility. It gives me immense pleasure to work with these bright sparks of tomorrow and be a part of their development.”

Dr. Alam’s microelectronics and nanotechnology research includes the physics of electronic, optoelectronic and bioelectronics devices, as well as the reliability limits of CMOS devices and computational modeling.

“I receive this award with pride and gratitude. I joined the SRC family as a graduate student in 1991, one of the SRC mentors hired me at Bell Labs 1996, and since 2004, SRC companies have supported our research on reliability physics of semiconductor devices,” said Dr. Alam. “The SRC ecosystem that connects students, mentors and fundamental problems of semiconductor industry is truly unique. The recognition that our work has made a difference, therefore, is deeply satisfying.”

Dr. Mitra’s research interests include robust system design; VLSI design; CAD; validation and test, including Quick Error Detection Technology (QED); emerging nanotechnologies and emerging neuroscience applications.

"I am honored by this award from the SRC in recognition of the QED technology. QED is key to ensuring robust operation of electronic systems we rely on everyday,” said Dr. Mitra. “I am fortunate to work with an excellent group of highly motivated undergraduate and graduate students at Stanford, as well as fantastic collaborators from industry and academia. The QED technology would have been impossible without them."

TECHCON Showcases Academia’s Brightest

TECHCON brings together the brightest minds in microelectronics research to exchange news about the progress of research ranging from materials to architectures 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 reflects the purpose of TECHCON, which is to enable future generations of chip technology. The Aristotle Award is given to SRC-funded university faculty that have profoundly and continuously impacted their students’ professional performances in a way that provides long-term benefit to the SRC member companies. The Technical Excellence Awards recognize researchers who have made key contributions to technologies that significantly enhance the productivity of the semiconductor industry.

More than 12,000 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.