November’s a month of celebrations brought to the semiconductor industry by the ESD Alliance.

It starts with the Phil Kaufman Award Ceremony and Dinner, an evening honoring the 25th award recipient Dr. Mary Jane Irwin Thursday, November 7, from 6:30pm until 9:30pm at The GlassHouse in San Jose, Calif.

Janie, as she is known throughout the electronic system design ecosystem, is the first woman recipient of the Phil Kaufman Award. Noted for her contributions to EDA via her technical efforts, service to the community and leadership, she is the Evan Pugh Professor and A. Robert Noll Chair Emeritus in Engineering in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Penn State.

The ESD Alliance and IEEE CEDA sponsor the award annually to honor individuals like Janie who have had a demonstrable impact on the field of electronic system design through technology innovations, education/mentoring, or business or industry leadership. While you don’t need to be a member of the ESD Alliance or CEDA, members and member company employees of both get a substantial discount. Registration information can be found at https://bit.ly/2nPL7Go.
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One of the highlights of last month’s SEMICON Taiwan for the ESD Alliance was our Industry Meeting, a well-attended gathering and a great cross-section of the semiconductor industry, including EDA, IP, packaging, fabless and academia. Remarkably, not all attendees came from companies or organizations currently members of SEMI or the ESD Alliance, though many were. All were interested in learning more about who we are and what we do.

I kicked off the session with an overview of the ESD Alliance and our history that goes back to 1989 when we were known as the EDA Consortium, aka EDAC. I spent a few minutes detailing why EDAC changed its name to the Electronic System Design (ESD) Alliance in 2016 and then became and SEMI Strategic Association Partner in 2018. Those moves significantly broadened EDAC’s charter from providing EDA companies with a forum to address cross-industry issues and promote the industry to our goal to serve a larger design ecosystem. We consider that ecosystem to now include semiconductor IP, embedded software, advanced packaging for system scaling and service companies that provide design know-how and resources. My talk concluded with a look at our benefits and why companies should consider joining both organizations.

Robert Li, president of Synopsys Taiwan, took the stage and moderated a lively discussion among an enthusiastic crowd of attendees. In going around the room, it was evident everyone had a unique perspective to share that enhanced our understanding of the needs and directions of this important region in the global semiconductor and electronic product market.

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It’s a pleasure to announce Dr. Mary Jane Irwin will be honored with the 2019 Phil Kaufman Award for Distinguished Contributions to Electronic System Design. She is being celebrated for her extensive contributions to EDA through her technical efforts, service to the community and leadership. Janie is the Evan Pugh Professor and A. Robert Noll Chair Emeritus in Engineering in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Pennsylvania State University and the first woman recipient of the Phil Kaufman Award.

Service to the community and leadership is how many of us in the electronic system design ecosystem think of her. She was the DAC chair in 1999 and a member of its Executive Committee for many years serving in various capacities. In 2004, Janie received the Marie R. Pistilli Women in EDA award, another prestigious honor that recognizes individuals who helped to advance women in electronic design. The award is named for the late Marie R. Pistilli, former organizer of DAC and close friend of hers, who valued equality, diversity and acceptance. Back in 1996, she and Marie co-founded the Workshop for Women in Design Automation, now called Women in Electronic Design.

I encourage you to read the news release that offers much more about her many and varied accomplishments.

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