Carnegie Mellon’s Rob Rutenbar Wins Prestigious Pioneer Award From The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

June 5 , 2007
Contact: Chriss Swaney
(412) 268-5776

PITTSBURGH— PITTSBURGH— Rob Rutenbar, the Stephen Jatras Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University received the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) 2007 Curcuits and Systems Society Industrial Pioneer Award June 5 at the Design Automation Conference in San Diego.Rutenbar was recognized for his pioneering contributions in developing academic and industrial research tools for commercial applications.

“This award really captures the outstanding contributions Rob Rutenbar has made to circuit design," said Ed Schlesinger, head of Carnegie Mellon’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). “His work reflects the innovative thinking and collaborative research so endemic to this university.’’

Following a decade of work, Rutenbar’s research contributed to the development of electronic design automation tools for structural, parametric and layout synthesis of analog-mixed integrated circuits, which are widely used in the semiconductor industry. Analog circuits connect digital computing chips with signals from the outside world; they are critical in applications ranging from high definition televisions to use in cell phones.

With ECE colleague L. Richard Carley, Rutenbar co-founded Neolinear, Inc. in 1977 to commercialize his work. That Pittsburgh start-up was acquired in 2004 by Cadence Design.

“I’m particularly gratified at this recognition by the IEEE, as our technology is now built into the Cadence analog design flow, making it available and familiar to worldwide users," said Rutenbar. “I believe the analog community has seen significant advances based on our work.’’

IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional society. The 370,000-member global organization is a leading authority on a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power and consumer electronics.

About Carnegie Mellon: Carnegie Mellon is a private research university with a distinctive mix of programs in engineering, computer science, robotics, business, public policy, fine arts and the humanities. More than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students receive an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovation. A small student-to-faculty ratio provides an opportunity for close interaction between students and professors. While technology is pervasive on its 144-acre campus, Carnegie Mellon is also distinctive among leading research universities for the world-renowned programs in its College of Fine Arts. For more, see www.cmu.edu.