Call to Nominate Candidates for the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Award

On Whose Shoulders Do You Stand?
How can so many engineers design million-transistor circuits with confidence and get reliable products to market on time? What technical advances and what algorithms are almost intuitive in our design and software processes? How do we know where to start, where it is still too risky invest time, or what is too risky to tweak? If you can remember a decade or more ago when you dreamed about the work your team accomplishes today, you can remember the seminal ideas that have allowed circuits to evolve a hundredfold. You could be a nominator for the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Technical Field Award, the Institute’s highest honor for outstanding contributions in our field.

Since its establishment in the 1980s this award has reflected the progress of the technology. The history of the field is the textbook for tomorrow’s engineers. How is it that engineers can design faster, smaller, and denser circuitry every year? Look back, look around. Most of the ideas and authors were probably published in the Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

The Solid-State Circuits Technical Field Award, presented at ISSCC, consists of a bronze medal, a certificate, and a cash prize. It honors an individual, or team of up to three, for outstanding contributions in the field of solid-state circuits, as exemplified by enhancement to technology, benefit to society, and professional leadership. The nomination form is available to download online: www.ieee.org/about/ awards/noms/solidnom.htm.

Guidelines, also available online, emphasize the importance of the nominee’s accomplishments, the quality of the nomination itself, and the quality of the supporting endorsement letters. The true merits of a candidate need to be conveyed through the nomination and endorsement paperwork. The deadline for receipt of nomination materials (including the nomination form and the supporting letters) is 31 January 2004.
For further information, to coordinate your efforts with others, or to determine if a nomination is already in progress, please contact Richard C. Jaeger, the Chair of the SSCS Awards Committee, at: jaeger@eng.auburn.edu.