Semiconductor Research Corporation® (SRC) is thrilled to recognize outstanding achievements in microelectronics research and the semiconductor industry by honoring university researchers and industry professionals annually. We are excited to announce the 2024 award recipients; for more details, visit our website: https://www.src.org/award/.
The SRC Champion Award celebrates those who have shown exceptional support for SRC and its mission. This year’s Champion is Dr. Chih-Ming “C.M.” Hung of MediaTek, Inc. Chih-Ming’s connection with SRC dates back to his graduate school days as an SRC Research Scholar under the supervision of Prof. Ken O, now Chair at UT Dallas’s Texas Analog Center of Design. After earning his Ph.D., Dr. Hung joined TI in 2000 and was engaged with SRC for a decade as a project Liaison and Advisory Board member. An expert in his field, he has guided the analog and mixed-signal research community toward adopting digital RF processor technology. Since 2011, Dr. Hung has been with MediaTek, where he has mentored educators, researchers, and students globally in RF and wireless technologies for 5G and beyond. In 2021, MediaTek, with Dr. Hung’s enthusiastic support, joined SRC, broadening the wireless research portfolio to include East Asian faculty and scholars. Congratulations, Chih-Ming Hung!
The SRC Aristotle Award honors faculty supported by SRC who have significantly impacted their students’ educational experiences and professional performance. The 2024 Aristotle Award winner is Professor Boris Murmann of the 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. Notable alumni such as Dr. Drew Hall, a distinguished professor in bioelectronics and sensor technology at the University of California, San Diego, and Echere Iroaga, Co-Founder and COO of Encharge AI, Inc., exemplify the success of Murmann’s mentorship. Since 2004, he has consulted with numerous Silicon Valley companies, influencing their circuit design and enabling early commercial products, including smartphones and edge devices. Professor Murmann excels in enhancing students’ learning experiences by integrating theoretical knowledge with practical application. Congratulations, Boris Murmann!
The Technical Excellence Award recognizes research that significantly enhances the semiconductor industry’s productivity and competitiveness. The 2024 Technical Excellence Award winner is Professor Anand Raghunathan from Purdue University. Anand receives this award for his pioneering work in approximate computing and the design of artificial intelligence hardware. His research has profoundly impacted both academia and industry, leading to innovative hardware solutions widely adopted in today’s AI technologies. His leadership in the field is highlighted by his previous role as Assistant Director of the C-BRIC Center and his current role as Assistant Director of the CoCoSys Center. Congratulations, Anand Raghunathan!
The Young Faculty Award celebrates emerging researchers in the SRC community who demonstrate innovative research and technical excellence. The 2024 Young Faculty Award winner is Professor Yingyan Celine Lin from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Yingyan, an SRC Research Scholar alumna from the SRC/DARPA JUMP CRISP Center, has made significant strides in brain-inspired hyperdimensional computing, leading to ultra-efficient learning and cognitive support systems. Dr. Lin currently leads cognitive systems research in the COCOSYS JUMP 2.0 Center. Congratulations, Yingyan Lin!
The Sustainable Future Award recognizes SRC research aligned with our commitment to sustainability. The 2024 Sustainable Future Award winner is Professor Chris Kim from the University of Minnesota. Chris is honored with this award for his groundbreaking contributions to energy efficiency and sustainability. His GRC Artificial Intelligence Hardware project involves developing a quantum-inspired method to address 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 honors patents and IP from SRC research that have notably impacted the semiconductor industry. The 2024 Innovation Award winner is US 9687877B2: “Compute Memory” by Professor Naresh Shanbhag of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This patent introduces a technique utilizing a multi-row read configuration and embedded analog signal processing for computation. Compute memory achieves energy efficiency due to low-voltage swing operation during both memory read and computation processes. Congratulations, Naresh Shanbhag!
The Mahboob Khan Outstanding Liaison Award recognizes industry experts, known as “Liaisons,” who have significantly impacted research contributions, transferred research results to industry, and supported students’ educational development.
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)
- Leo Liu (TSMC)
Congratulations to these outstanding Liaisons!
These awards were presented at SRC’s TECHCON, held September 8-10, 2024, in Austin, TX. TECHCON is the cornerstone of SRC’s research and workforce development efforts, featuring over 200 posters and presentations by SRC Research Scholars. The conference, attended exclusively by member company engineers, scientists, and recruiters, offers unique opportunities for technology exchange, career insights, and networking through both formal events and informal discussions. At least 50% of the students attending are women or under-represented minorities, with nearly 50 undergraduate researchers participating this year. The event fosters a diverse and dynamic environment for collaboration and learning, with students arriving from Switzerland, India, Germany, Canada, Taiwan, and the United States.
