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Alumni Talks, Strong Attendance Mark GEDC’s 2008 Spring Industry Review

The Spring Review’s five industry speakers pose here with the directors of GEDC and GTAC. On the top row, left to right, are GTAC Director Paul Hasler, Jeff Dugger, Bob Payne, Jeff Galloway and GEDC Director Joy Laskar. On the bottom row are Emad Andarawis and Anh-Vu Pham.

          ATLANTA — Georgia Tech’s impact on industry and academia was underscored as several highly successful alumni returned to campus to address the recent Spring Industry Review at the Georgia Electronic Design Center (GEDC).
          Attendance numbers were strong, with every session of the two-day event filled to capacity. The Spring Review brought some 450 attendees and nearly 60 corporate representatives to the Technology Square Research Building (TSRB) at Georgia Tech, in addition to GEDC’s 250 faculty, staff and student researchers.
          "We especially enjoyed this industry review," said Joy Laskar, director of GEDC. "Learning more about how our alumni are influencing industry and academic research is always helpful to us and to our research efforts, and it reflects our focus on industry needs and goals.”
          At the annual Spring Review event, GEDC and its associate center, the Georgia Tech Analog Consortium, invite their 50-plus member and partner companies and agencies to GEDC’s headquarters in TSRB. Industry representatives meet with faculty and students and examine the research performed at GEDC, and industry figures are invited to give research-relevant talks.
          The April 16-17 gathering included several alumni talks by:
          Jeff Dugger, co-founder of Silicon Valley semiconductor startup GTronix, who earned a Ph.D. from Georgia Tech in 2003;
          Jeff Galloway, a principal at Atlanta-based Silicon Creations, who earned a bachelor’s degree in EE from Georgia Tech in 1998;
          Anh-Vu Pham, associate professor at UC Davis and leader of the Microwave Microsystems Lab there, who received bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. degrees in EE from Georgia Tech in 1995, 1997 and 1999;
          Bob Payne, Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at Texas Instruments, who received a bachelor’s and master’s in EE from Georgia Tech in 1994 and 1996;
          Nicole Evers, of GE Global Research and holder of a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. in EE from Georgia Tech, was unable to attend. She was represented by another GE engineer, Emad Andarawis.
          Student researchers from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and GEDC gave formal presentations on research in the areas of cognitive radio, gigabit wireless and RFID/sensors, among others. Students also displayed dozens of poster presentations covering current and recent research at GEDC.
          A first-ever job fair attracted a considerable amount of interest among students, and helped promote communication between students and industry.
          GEDC's next review event, the Fall Industry Review, is expected to take place in October 2008.