“Research is the lifeblood of innovation, spurring new technologies that drive growth in the semiconductor industry and throughout the U.S. economy,” said John Neuffer, president and CEO of SIA, which represents U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research. “Throughout their distinguished careers, Professors Hoyt and Shanbhag have advanced groundbreaking scientific research, driven breakthroughs in semiconductor technology, and helped strengthen America’s global technological leadership.”
“The University Research Award was established to recognize lifetime achievements in semiconductor research by university faculty,” said Ken Hansen, president and CEO of SRC. “Drs. Shanbhag and Hoyt have repeatedly advanced the state-of-the-art semiconductor design and technology in their respective fields. These esteemed professors’ influence on their students has produced new leaders and contributors in the semiconductor industry. The research output from universities tackling industry relevant challenges plays an integral role in next-generation innovations. It is with great appreciation and admiration that the entire SRC team congratulates Dr. Shanbhag and Dr. Hoyt.”
Shanbhag will receive the award for excellence in semiconductor design research specifically for pioneering an Information-Theoretic approach for computing by fusing Claude Shannon’s theory for communications with Turing machines to enable to the design of energy efficient information processing systems in advanced semiconductor process technologies. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in Electrical Engineering. From 1993-95, he was a Member of Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories designing DSL chip-sets. In August 1995, Shanbhag joined the ECE ILLINOIS faculty where he holds the Jack S. Kilby Professorship. He co-founded and served as the Chief Technology Officer of Intersymbol Communications, Inc., from 2000-07, to bring electronic dispersion compensation chip-sets for OC-192 ultra long-haul fiber optic links. He has also authored more than 200 articles and holds 13 U.S. patents. Beginning in January 2013, Shanbhag served as the founding director of the Systems On Nanoscale Information fabriCs (SONIC) Center, a five-year, multi-university center funded by DARPA and SRC.
Read more from Solid State Technology and the SIA site.