Commercializing Silicon on Sapphire

Commercializing Silicon on Sapphire

Friday, Oct. 7, 2011

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Jacobs Hall, Lobby

Qualcomm Conference Suite

Ron Reedy, Ph.D., UCSD ’83

Co-Founder and CTO, Peregrine Semiconductor

Silicon on Sapphire, SOS, was invented in 1963 by Hal Manasevit, blessed with incredible technical merit and cursed with seemingly insurmountable manufacturing issues. For the next 3 decades, SOS morphed from a child prodigy to an aged has-been on death’s doorstep. Only a small, dedicated group of Government researchers kept it alive long enough to see its killer application arrive: commercial, high-volume mobile wireless communications.

In 1990 Peregrine Semiconductor was founded on the premise that cellular phones would require integrated RF solutions just as personal computers required integrated digital solutions. Driven by integration and cost, a CMOS solution would dominate this opportunity and a CMOS technology on an RF (insulating) substrate would be the ideal solution.

Twenty years later, Peregrine is an overnight success and about to ship our billionth CMOS on sapphire RFIC. In this presentation, the history of technical, product, business and financial hurdles will be discussed. If you don’t want to be an entrepreneur when we are done, I will have failed.

This event is being presented by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

BIOGRAPHY:  Ronald E. Reedy, Ph.D., a Peregrine co-founder, serves as Chief Technical Officer. Dr. Reedy, who has more than 30 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, co-founded Peregrine in 1990. Previously, he was the branch head of the microelectronics division at Navy Research and Development Center (NRaD). He is responsible for expanding capabilities and usage of Peregrine’s UltraCMOS™ technology.

            Dr. Reedy is credited as one of the inventors of Peregrine's patented UltraCMOS technology. He has over thirty five years of experience in silicon on insulator and silicon on sapphire research, manufacturing and product development. He holds a BSEE degree from the U.S. Naval Academy, an MSEE from US Naval Postgraduate School. In 1983 he received a Ph.D. in Applied Physics/EE from University of California at San Diego based on pioneering work in monolithic integration of optical and electronic components. Dr. Reedy is co-recipient of 2011 IEEE Daniel E. Noble Award for Emerging Technologies (the other co-recipient, Dr. Mark Burgener is also a UCSD alum). Dr. Reedy has published dozens of technical articles and is an author on over thirty patents, all related to microelectronics or electro-optics. He has been a presenter or invited speaker at dozens of technical and financial conferences.

Hosted by Professor Paul Yu

Discovery Channel Features Structural Engineering's Blast Simulator

The Discovery Channel's Daily Planet recently visited the UC San Diego Department of Structural Engineering and Englekirk Structural Engineering Center as part of a 9/11 anniversary special looking at technological advances designed to thwart future attacks.

The Discovery crew filmed the department's blast simulator, the only one of its kind in the world, and interviewed Professor and department Chair Gil Hegemier, an expert in blast mitigation. The hour-long special, which aired in Canada on September 9, featured just seven stories from around the world. The segment on the blast simulator is in Part 3.

You can view the entire special here. The large structure featured in the picture isn't the blast simulator, in case you're wondering. It's the five-story structure the Structural Engineering Department is building at the Englekirk Structural Engineering Center to assess how well current nonstructural elements hold up to earthquakes and post-earthquake fires. The tests will focus on a broad range of systems and equipment that can malfunction during an earthquake and make it more difficult to evacuate buildings, which can lead to more injuries and deaths.

Fun at Engineers on the Green

A live version of “Angry Birds,” a giant inflatable bounce house, free food. These were some of the attractions that brought together hundreds of students to Matthews Quad Wednesday for “Engineers on the Green.” The annual meet and greet event hosted by student organizations at the Jacobs School of Engineering takes place the day before classes start.

This year, students could play carnival-style games, earn tickets and win free giveaways. The Women in Computing group, which recently launched an undergraduate chapter, put on a live version of “Angry Birds,” using plush toys and makeshift catapults. Several student-run projects also were on display. IEEE showcased some of its robots, including the famous micromouse. The Human Powered Vehicle team showed off two of its vehicles. Students could also feast of tacos and corn on the cob, among other goodies.

Read more about Engineers on the Green here.

Watch our Engineers on the Green slideshow on Flickr here.

KPBS Covers Sequencing of Dark Matter of Life Story

KPBS in San Diego recently aired a piece about research by scientists who have developed a new method to sequence and analyze the dark matter of life--the genomes of thousands of bacteria species previously beyond scientists' reach. Researchers at UC San Diego, the J. Craig Venter Institute and Illumina, Inc. published their findings is the Sept. 18 online issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology.
Pavel Pevzner, a computer science professor at the Jacobs School of Engineering and Glenn Tesler, a UCSD mathematics professor, teamed up to design an algorithm that makes this possible.
Click here to listen to the KPBS story.
Click here to read the full press release about the research.
The North County Times also did a piece about the study. Click here to read it.

A Facebook Chat with WIC Undergraduate Chapter Co-founder Meera Ramakrishnan

UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering

Hi everyone, we're about to chat with Meera Ramakrishnan, one of the co-founders of the undergraduate chapter of Women in Computing. Meera, are you there?

· · Share · 38 minutes ago

• William Jordan Holloway likes this.
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    Meera Ramakrishnan Good morning everyone. Yes, I am here.

    37 minutes ago ·
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    UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering Welcome! Can you tell us a little bit about what WIC's goals are for the new undergraduate chapter?

    36 minutes ago ·
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    Meera Ramakrishnan The undergraduate chapter of WIC is committed to foster an innovative and informative environment for women in computer science and engineering. We will engage in technical/career discussions and debates. We are planning to bring in a few keynote speakers, provide interview and career fair preparation, and expose our members to all the latest CS research. We are also planning to host a few CS coding competitions based on the CS technical level of our members. Of course, we will also have social events with other UCSD engineering organizations.
    
    The only requirement to be a member is to create a collaborative, friendly, and stimulating environment to all who wish to enter the field of Computer Science and Engineering. We do not discriminate based on gender, race, age, or religion.

    33 minutes ago ·
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    UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering Tell us a little more about the kind of keynote speakers you'd like to bring to campus.

    30 minutes ago ·
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    Meera Ramakrishnan We would like to invite women CS professors and UCSD alumnae to come speak to our members and provide tips for interviews, career life, and gender issues many CS women face.
    
    Many engineering companies do a great job in supporting women. I was contacted by two leading women CS researchers from a software engineering company, and they seem very eager to come speak to our members. A few other companies have already started contacting us, and we are in the process of planning tech talks and events with them on our campus itself.

    27 minutes ago ·
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    UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering That's terrific! In the long run, are you hoping to retain and attract more female students to the major? Provide a support network?

    26 minutes ago ·
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    Meera Ramakrishnan That is one of our main goals as an organization.
    
    From personal experience, I can say that a support network is very important not just for CSE, but for all majors. It is crucial to create strong relationships with your professors, counselors, and peers in order to have a successful undergraduate career at UCSD and beyond in the real world.
    
    We are hoping to increase the retention rate of women in CSE and foster an environment which encourages strong, intelligent, and confident young engineering women who are eager and motivated to achieve all of their goals.

    22 minutes ago ·
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    UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering If students are interested to join the new chapter, who should they contact?

    21 minutes ago ·
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    Meera Ramakrishnan You can find us on facebook atWIC@UCSD. Our first GBM will be on September 29th at 7pm in CSE 4140. We are looking forward to seeing everyone there.

    18 minutes ago ·
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    Meera Ramakrishnan We also have a google group for WIC which our members can join in order to be updated on all the latest news about our organization.
    http://groups.google.com/group/wic-ucsd

    17 minutes ago ·
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    UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering Meera, before we sign off, is there anything else you'd like to tell us about the new WIC undergraduate chapter? Anything we didn't ask you about?

    15 minutes ago ·
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    Meera Ramakrishnan I just want to encourage all men and women who are interested in CSE and supporting women CSE majors to come to our first GBM and hear about what we are planning to do for this academic year.
    
    For all engineering majors, I cannot stress enough how important it is to form study groups, create a strong collaborative academic environment, get to know your professors, and also maintain a life of balance.
    
    Thank you, Jacobs School of Engineering!

    13 minutes ago ·
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    UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering Thank you for chatting with us Meera! We'll keep in touch to find out how your organization is growing.

    11 minutes ago · · 1 person

Women in Computing Starts Undergraduate Chapter

Women in Computing, also known as WIC, is starting a new undergraduate chapter—and wants everyone to join, including male students.
One of the organization's primary goals is to provide a support network for women in computer science—and men need to be part of that equation, said Meera Ramakrishnan, one of the group's founders. Another goal is to attract and retain more women in the major.
Undergraduate students want to know how to do well on an interview and how to write a good resume, Ramakrishnan said. They also want to hear from professionals, she said. The undergraduate chapter plans to offer career advice, tech talks and fun events.
The organization is working on bringing two top women researchers from HP Labs to the Jacobs School for a tech talk. It also plans to create partnerships with other organizations to set up programming competitions and video game nights, that younger students, especially women, might feel too intimidated to attend otherwise, said Marjori Pomarole, another co-founder of the group. "We want to talk—and play," she said. Ice cream socials also are in the works.
The idea for the new chapter started with a group of undergraduates who regularly had lunch with WIC graduate students last year. There are now 25 members on the new group's roster. But that number is expected to grow. Founders recently advertised the organization at freshmen orientation.
Bonus: members get a "Ladies by Day, Hackers by Night" T-shirt.