Tech Shout!

The first ‘Technovation Awards’ have been announced in India. The initiative is a joint effort by the India Semiconductor Association (ISA), and the VLSI Society of India (VSI). The entire intention behind this recognition is to induce awareness of the semiconductor and related tech industries developing in India and to persuade the academic group to partake in its progress.

Poornima Shenoy, President, India Semiconductor Association said, “The semiconductor driven industry relies on university research to take it further. India should be an active participant in this process and industry appreciates and understands this fact.” Shenoy added, “In today’s knowledge intensive world a nation’s strength lies in its capability to innovate in core technological areas. In immediate past and in the years to come, the semiconductor technology will continue to be a core technology that contributes immensely to a nation’s economic strength. Therefore, it is imperative for us to have a sustained effort and strategy to promote and propagate semiconductor research in our R & D institutions.”

Professor Sarawat undoubtedly has had a career that’s worth recognizing. He received his B.E. degree in Electronics in 1968 from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering in 1969 and 1974 respectively from Stanford University, Stanford, CA. 58-year old Prof. Saraswat stayed at Stanford as a researcher and was appointed Professor of Electrical Engineering in 1983. His research interests are basically in the fields of new and innovative materials, structures, and process technology of silicon, germanium and III-V devices and interconnects for nanoelectronics.

The other prestigious award titled ‘ISA-VSI TechnoMentor Award’ was presented to Prof. Jagadish Kumar, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi for being an academic of extraordinary mentoring and research capabilities.

While the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras & Indian Institute of Technology, Karagpur were joint recipients of the ISA-VSI TechnoShield Award. This award is recognition for academic institutions in India for their contribution in semiconductor research.

The ISA-VSI TechnoInventor Award for outstanding post-graduate and doctoral research thesis was presented to Dr. R. K. Sharma, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra and Syam Sundar Reddy E, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.