Semiconductor Research Corporation Announces 2024 Award Winners

Semiconductor Research Corporation Announces 2024 Award Winners

Jennifer Dickens, jennifer.dickens@src.org, 919-941-9423

Semiconductor Research Corporation® (SRC) proudly celebrates outstanding achievements in microelectronics research and the semiconductor industry by annually recognizing university researchers and industry professionals. We are excited to announce the 2024 award recipients; more details can be found on our website: https://www.src.org/award/.

The SRC Champion Award honors those who have demonstrated exemplary support of SRC and its mission. This year's Champion is Dr. Chih-Ming “C.M.” Hung of MediaTek, Inc. Chih-Ming's association with SRC goes back to his graduate school days as an SRC Research Scholar, supervised by Prof. Ken O, current Chair at UT Dallas’s Texas Analog Center of Design. After receiving his Ph.D., Dr. Hung joined TI in 2000 and maintained a 10-year engagement with SRC as a project Liaison and Advisory Board member. Recognized as an expert in his field, he has guided the analog and mixed-signal research community to adopt digital RF processor technology. Since 2011, Dr. Hung has been with MediaTek, advocating for and mentoring educators, researchers, and students globally in RF and wireless technologies for 5G and beyond. In 2021, with Dr. Hung’s enthusiastic support, MediaTek joined SRC, expanding the wireless research portfolio to include East Asian faculty and scholars. Congratulations, Chih-Ming Hung!

The SRC Aristotle Award recognizes faculty supported by SRC who have made a significant impact on student's educational experiences and professional performance. The 2024 Aristotle Award winner is Professor Boris Murmann, University of Hawai’i at Manoa. Boris has guided over 50 Ph.D. students to graduation, demonstrating his commitment to nurturing future engineers and researchers. Alumni like Dr. Drew Hall, a notable professor in bioelectronics and sensor technology at the University of California, San Diego, and Echere Iroaga, Co-Founder and COO of Encharge AI, Inc., highlight the success of Murmann’s mentorship. Since 2004, he has worked as a consultant with numerous Silicon Valley companies to influence their circuit design and enable many early commercial products including smartphones and edge devices. Professor Murmann excels in enriching students' learning experiences, blending theoretical knowledge with practical application. Congratulations, Boris Murmann!

The Technical Excellence Award acknowledges research that significantly enhances the productivity and competitiveness of the semiconductor industry. The 2024 Technical Excellence Award winner is Professor Anand Raghunathan, Purdue. Anand was a key researcher in the SRC/DARPA JUMP ComSenter and has developed a revolutionary method for growing diamond layers with high thermal conductivity adjacent to active RF and power devices in gallium nitride and silicon carbide semiconductors. This innovation addresses the challenge of heat management in devices. Congratulations, Anand Raghunathan!

The Young Faculty Award promotes rising researchers in the SRC community who demonstrate novel research and technical execution. The 2024 Young Faculty Award winner is Professor Yingyan Celine Lin, Georgia Institute of Technology. Yingyan, an SRC Research Scholar alumni from the SRC/DARPA JUMP CRISP Center, has made significant contributions to brain-inspired hyperdimensional computing, leading to ultra-efficient learning and cognitive support systems. Dr. Lin is currently leading cognitive systems research in the COCOSYS JUMP 2.0 Center. Congratulations, Yingyan Lin!

The Sustainable Future Award celebrates SRC research aligned with our Commitment to Sustainability. The 2024 Sustainable Future Award winner is Professor Chris Kim, University of Minnesota. Chris has been honored with the SRC Sustainable Future Award for his groundbreaking contributions to energy efficiency and sustainability. His GRC Artificial Intelligence Hardware project involves developing a quantum-inspired method to tackle complex NP-hard and NP-complete problems using CMOS ring oscillators, which operate on significantly less power compared to existing quantum systems. Congratulations, Chris Kim!

The SRC Innovation Award recognizes patents and IP from SRC research that have significantly impacted the semiconductor industry. The 2024 Innovation Award winner is US 9687877B2: “Compute Memory” by Professor Naresh Shanbhag, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. This patent presents a technique that utilizes a multi-row read configuration and embedded analog signal processing to perform computations. This innovation has led to the development of tools for monitoring aging power electronic systems, with findings deployed in Texas Instruments' UCC5870 gate driver. Congratulations, Naresh Shanbhag!

The Mahboob Khan Outstanding Liaison Award honors industry subject matter experts, whom SRC calls "Liaisons", who have significantly impacted research contributions, transferred research results to industry, and are committed to supporting the educational development of students.

The 2024 winners are Amitabh Das (AMD), Hugh McIntyre (AMD), Matthew Poremba (AMD), Cristobal Alessandri (Analog Devices), Doug Gardner (Analog Devices), Mansour Moinpour (EMD Electronics), Augusto Vega (IBM), Sara Garcia Sanchez (IBM), Shurong Tian (IBM), Manoj Kumar (IBM), Amy Whitcombe (Intel), Jason Fung (Intel), Ren Wang (Intel), Frank Hady (Intel), Sohrab Aftabjahani (Intel), Chih-Ming Hung (MediaTek), Yu-Tao Yang (MediaTek), Peter Abramowitz (NXP), Varughese Mathew (NXP), Yaxiong Chen (NXP), Behnam Khaleghi (Qualcomm), Michael Burkland (Raytheon), Harsono Simka (Samsung), Abhishek Somani (Siemens), Hoshik Kim (SK Hynix), Jaimal Williamson (Texas Instruments, Inc.), Saqib Malik (Texas Instruments, Inc.), Sylvester Ankamah-Kusi (Texas Instruments, Inc.), Hanna Paddubrouskaya (Tokyo Electron Limited), Lior Huli (Tokyo Electron Limited), Sean Berglund (Tokyo Electron Limited), and Leo Liu (TSMC). Congratulations to these outstanding Liaisons!

These awards were presented at SRC's TECHCON, held September 8-10, 2024, in Austin, TX. The anchor event of SRC’s research and workforce development efforts, TECHCON features over 200 posters/presentations this year by SRC Research Scholars. The conference is attended exclusively by member company engineers, scientists, and recruiters, which provides unique opportunities to exchange technology, share career insights, and network through formal events and informal conversations. TECHCON is a unique event where at least 50% of students are women or under-represented minorities; with the 2024 conference featuring nearly 50 undergraduate researchers. With students arriving from Switzerland, India, Germany, Canada, Taiwan, and the United States, the event fosters a diverse and dynamic environment for collaboration and learning.

About SRC: Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) is a world-class, non-profit consortium that works with industry, government, and academia partners to define, fund and manage university research on behalf of its member companies. Through its highly regarded research programs, SRC plays an indispensable part in both research and development strategies of the most influential industry leaders. Members of SRC gain access to research results, fundamental IP, and highly experienced students to compete in the global marketplace and build the workforce of tomorrow. For more information and to stay informed on our advancements, visit www.src.org.