44th Design Automation Conference Professional Development Fund to Award $165,000

BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Design Automation Conference (DAC) today announced that together with several sponsoring societies it is awarding more than $165,000 in professional development funds to students and professionals in the EDA field. These funds bring the total amount awarded during the past thirteen years to more than $3.73 million. The 44th DAC will be held at the San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, Calif., June 4 - 8, 2007.

“Each year DAC makes a very important contribution in the form of ongoing dedication to continuing education, which helps to ensure a successful future of the industry”

The DAC Professional Development Fund supports a range of programs, including the A. Richard Newton Graduate Scholarships, the P.O. Pistilli Advancement in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Program, the Young Student Support Program and the University Booth Program. DAC also supports a number of workshops, including the Workshop for Women in Design Automation.

“Each year DAC makes a very important contribution in the form of ongoing dedication to continuing education, which helps to ensure a successful future of the industry,” said Ellen Sentovich, 44th DAC past chair who oversees the DAC Professional Development Fund. “We, along with our fellow sponsors, are very pleased to support this wide range of programs again this year.”

Programs Receiving DAC Professional Development Funds:

The A. Richard Newton Graduate Scholarships awarded by DAC in honor of the memory of Dr. A. Richard Newton will award $24,000 in scholarships to support graduate research and study in electronic design automation and circuit design. These scholarships are intended to support graduate students of faculty investigators at universities establishing new programs in electronic design automation or circuit design and/or graduate students of young faculty investigators (assistant rank, non-tenured) working in electronic design automation or circuit design. Additional information can be found at http://www.dac.com/44th/scholar.html.

The P.O. Pistilli Scholarship for Advancement in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering is funded by the Design Automation Conference and is directed by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on Design Automation (SIGDA). The objective of the scholarship is to increase the pool of professionals in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from under-represented groups (Women, African American, Hispanic, American Indian, and Disabled). Scholarships of $4,000 per year, renewable for up to five years, are awarded annually for as many as seven high school seniors from the under-represented groups who have a 3.00 GPA or better (on a 4.00 scale); have demonstrated high achievement in math and science courses; have expressed a strong desire to pursue careers in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or computer science; and who have demonstrated substantial financial need. Additional information is available at http://doc.union.edu/acsee.html.

The SIGDA/DAC University Booth has been providing an opportunity for the university community to demonstrate EDA tools, design projects, and instructional materials at the Design Automation Conference since 1987. The University Booth also provides space for the presentation of EDA vendor literature and programs of interest to the university community. The University Booth provides booth space, poster areas, computers, printers, and a high-speed connection to the Internet for participating universities. The SIGDA/DAC University Booth also provides travel grants to the participating students to cover some of the transportation and lodging expense. Additional information is available at http://www.sigda.org/programs/Ubooth/Ubooth2007/.

The Young Student Support Program encourages advanced undergraduate students (Junior or Senior levels) and first-year graduate students (beginning first year, or finishing first and beginning second year) to join the electronic design automation profession or pursue graduate studies in this field. This program introduces students to DAC and the design automation profession through meetings, tours, and by association with a mentor who is an advanced graduate student already working in the area. This year’s program expects to grant $28,000 for students’ registration fees and banquet tickets, and to help with travel expenses. The program is sponsored by DAC along with the EDA Consortium, IEEE CASS and the ACM Special Interest Group on Design Automation (SIGDA), which also administers the Young Student Support Program. More information on this scholarship can be found at http://vlsi.ws.binghamton.edu/~studprog07/.

The NSF/SIGDA/DAC Design Automation Summer School (DASS) offers graduate students the opportunity to participate in an intensive two-day course on selected areas of research and development in design automation. DASS is co-sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery’s (ACM’s) Special Interest Group on Design Automation (SIGDA), DAC Professional Development Fund and the National Science Foundation. More information is available at http://www.ece.rice.edu/~kmram/dass07/.

About DAC

The Design Automation Conference (DAC) is the premier educational and networking event for Electronic Design Automation (EDA) and silicon solutions. More than 11,000 designers, developers, researchers, academics and managers from leading electronics companies and universities from around the world attend. DAC features close to 60 technical sessions covering the latest research on design methodologies and technologies, EDA tool developments and trends selected by a diverse committee of electronic design experts. A highlight is its Exhibition and Suite area with approximately 250 of the leading and emerging EDA, silicon and IP providers. More details about DAC are available at: www.dac.com.