2023 CHIPS and Science Act Workshop

Time:  8:00 AM - 3:30 PM

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The workshop will help the UVA engineering and physics community to envision opportunities related to semiconductors and next-generation devices arising from the CHIPS and Science Act. 

The planned agenda is below and includes external speakers, faculty talks on research, education, and workforce development, and a student poster session. 

The CHIPS workshop organizing committee is: Avik Ghosh (Chair), Scott Acton, James Aylor, Despina Louca, Mircea Stan, Nikhil Shukla, Mona Zebarjadi, Fred Epstein, Jeff Fox

Planned Agenda

Note: videos are available for UVA internal use only via these links:

Slides are available for UVA internal use only via the hyperlinked presentation titles below. Accessing the videos and slides requires UVA NetBadge login.

 

Speaker Bios:

Jennifer West: Jennifer West is Dean, University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science, Nancy and Neal Wade Professor of Engineering and Applied Science, and Professor of Biomedical, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UVA. Dean West’s formidable record of accomplishments spans 25 years as a transformational researcher, award-winning teacher and mentor, inventor and entrepreneur. Her research focuses on the use of biomaterials, nanotechnology and tissue engineering, applying engineering approaches to studying biological problems and solving unmet medical needs, particularly in the fight against cancer. Dean West came to UVA from Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering, where she was the Fitzpatrick Family University Distinguished Professor of Engineering and Associate Dean for Ph.D. Education, with appointments in biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering and materials science. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Inventors, with 19 patents that have been licensed to eight different companies. One company, Nanospectra Biosciences Inc., co-founded by West, is running human clinical trials of a cancer therapy she invented. Her priorities as Dean of Engineering at UVA include building upon the school’s research trajectory, increasing experiential learning opportunities for students and ensuring a clear pathway to entrepreneurship for faculty and students.

Melur K. (Ram) Ramasubramanian: Melur K. “Ram” Ramasubramanian is the Vice President for Research (VPR). As UVA’s Chief Research Officer, Ram is responsible for executing a research growth strategy, managing and protecting a $550M UVA research enterprise. Reporting to the President, Ram serves on the President’s executive cabinet and contributes to addressing university-wide issues. He oversees various University units that comprise the research infrastructure, including the office of sponsored programs (OSP), the research development office that facilitates the acquisition of research funding, the licensing and ventures group for research commercialization, the offices for managing regulatory compliance and research safety, integrity, and security, as well as animal welfare, environmental health and safety. He also oversees the Pan-University research institutes, and manages strategic investments in research, and engages with external constituents at the state and federal levels. Ram is a professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UVA.  His prior academic appointment includes the Department Chair and D. W. Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Clemson University (2012-2016), Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (1994-2012) at North Carolina State University. Ram was also the Program Director for the Engineering Research Centers (ERC) program (2016-2017), and the Lead Program Director for the IGERT program (2009-2012) at the National Science Foundation. He has an extensive industry R&D experience working as a Research Associate at the Georgia Pacific Innovation Institute, Georgia-Pacific Corporation (1987-1994). He is a member of the executive committee of the council on research of the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities, a member of the Senior Research Officers (SRO) group of the Association of American Universities (AAU). He is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI), the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering AIMBE), and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS).

Julia Smith:  Julia Smith is Executive Director of Federal Government Relations and Special Assistant to the President. She has extensive experience in government relations in Washington DC, having served as the Assistant Vice President for Federal Relations at the University of Arizona (“UA”). Prior to her time at the University of Arizona, Julia spent eight years as the Assistant Vice President for federal relations at the Association of American Universities (AAU). There, she worked closely with leadership from the 62 member universities to develop association positions on federal budget and policy priorities, including with key federal science agencies. She represented AAU on the Task Force on American Innovation, a non-partisan alliance of industry, academia, and science advocacy organizations. Julia is the Chair of the Coalition for Aerospace & Science. She served as the founding chair of the Golden Goose Award, and is currently serving a three-year term on the Executive Committee of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ Council of Governmental Affairs.

Dr. Erwin Gianchandani: Dr Gianchandani is the U.S. National Science Foundation’s assistant director for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP). Gianchandani has worked at NSF since 2012. Prior to becoming the assistant director for TIP, he served as the senior advisor for Translation, Innovation and Partnerships for over a year, where he helped develop plans for the new TIP Directorate in collaboration with colleagues at NSF, other government agencies, industry and academia. During the previous six years, Gianchandani was the NSF deputy assistant director for Computer and Information Science and Engineering, twice serving as acting assistant director for CISE. Gianchandani’s leadership and management of CISE included the formulation and implementation of the directorate's $1 billion annual budget, strategic and human capital planning, and oversight of day-to-day operations for a team of over 130. Gianchandani has led the development and launch of several new NSF initiatives, including the Smart & Connected Communities program, Civic Innovation Challenge, Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research, and the National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes. Before joining NSF in 2012, Gianchandani was the inaugural director of the Computing Community Consortium, providing leadership to the computing research community in identifying and pursuing bold, high-impact research directions such as health information technology and sustainable computing. Gianchandani has published extensively and presented at international conferences on computational systems biology. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer science and master's and doctoral degrees in biomedical engineering, all from the University of Virginia. In 2021, Gianchandani received the Distinguished Presidential Rank Award, awarded to members of the Federal Government’s Senior Executive Service for sustained extraordinary accomplishment. In 2018, he was awarded the Outstanding Young Engineering Graduate Award from the University of Virginia.

Sean Sweeney: Sean Sweeney serves as a legislative assistant in the Office of Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), where he leads the senator’s work on immigration, technology, and telecommunications issues. Prior to rejoining Senator Warner’s staff in November 2021, Sean served as a government relations manager for Accenture, leading the company’s government engagement related to artificial intelligence and other emerging technology issues. In February of 2018, Sean was appointed Deputy Director of the Virginia Office of Intergovernmental Affairs by Governor Ralph Northam. In this role, he advised Governor Northam on federal policy issues and acted as a liaison between state government in Richmond and federal stakeholders in Washington. Prior to his role in the Northam Administration, Sean served as a legislative correspondent for Senator Warner and as a research assistant on his 2014 reelection campaign. Sean is a native of Massachusetts and a graduate of the College of William & Mary, where he studied International Relations. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife, Sarah.

David Devan: David Devan serves as the Vice President of Economic Competitiveness at the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the state economic development organization for Virginia. His division is charged with developing medium and long-term strategies to improve the foundations for state, regional, and local economic growth with focus areas including site development, tax policy, national rankings, and strategic planning, among others. During his time at VEDP, he has had a leading role in key projects such as VEDP’s industrial site development program including the investment of over $100M in real estate development grants and development of a novel industrial real estate evaluation methodology; strategies to attract major investment in key industries such as life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and semiconductors; and supporting the development of the Governor’s Economic Development Policy for the Youngkin Administration. Prior to VEDP, David worked at Harris Williams and Company in Richmond advising private equity firms on mergers and acquisitions. Prior to Harris Williams, he served for seven years as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps. David received his B.S. from the U.S. Naval Academy and his MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.

John Peeler:  John is Chairman of the Board of IPG Photonics Corp (IPGP) a global leader in lasers with greater than 1 billion annual revenues. He also works to mentor and help technology startup companies including Wave Array LLC, JumpLights Inc, and Nobel Explorers PBC. Previously, John was CEO and Chairman of Veeco Instruments Inc. (VECO), which developed Semiconductor Equipment to dramatically reduce the cost of manufacturing LEDs and helped to enable the LED lighting revolution. Earlier in his career, John joined TTC /Acterna when it had less than 20 employees and progressed through positions in engineering and marketing to become CEO and led the company to become a global leader in communications test instruments. Peeler earned B.S. and master’s degrees in electrical engineering and graduated with high distinction from the University of Virginia. He lives in Clarksburg Maryland with his wife Christine and has 3 daughters.

David Bostedo: David Bostedo is Space Products Engineering Lead at BAE Systems, Inc. He has 25 years of experience in all facets of Space Electronics development. He is currently responsible for staffing and executing programs across the Space Systems portfolio. David oversees a group of 180+ engineers, across three sites in Virginia and New Hampshire. David has worked for the company since 1998, holding a variety of engineering positions, with a focus in electronics and micro-electronics development. His primary technical expertise in ASIC and FPGA development, and he has worked on board, box, software, and system development as well. David has a B.S. in Computer Engineering and an M.S. in Computer Engineering, both from Virginia Tech, with concentrations in micro-electronics, and communications.

Jonathan Prange: Jonathan Prange is a Business Strategy Lead at MITRE Engenuity. In this role, he is responsible for developing a strategy for planning and operationalizing the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) as part of the CHIPS Act. The scope includes shaping the technical strategy, operations and execution of programs at the NSTC aligned to the objectives of the legislation by working closely with key industry stakeholders and members of MITRE Engenuity’s Semiconductor Alliance. Before joining MITRE Engenuity, Jonathan held a variety of roles at Dow, and later DuPont, from Senior Chemist to Global R&D Manager. He was responsible for commercializing multiple electroplating products within the Advanced Packaging business unit for the microelectronics industry. These technologies ranged from copper applications such as dual damascene, redistribution layer, through silicon via, and pillar to nickel barrier layers and lead-free solders, including tin, tin-silver and pure indium. He spent his last 2 years at DuPont focusing on copper clad laminates and low-loss dielectric materials for advanced build-up substrates as part of the Emerging Technologies business unit. Jonathan received his B.S. in chemistry from Purdue University in 2005 followed by a Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford University in 2011.

Zuzana Steen: Zuzana Steen is the Academic and Community Relations Director for Micron Technology, Inc. and with her extensive knowledge of educational institutions, industry and non-profits, she is responsible for connecting Micron with education and community partners. As a liaison to key constituencies in the area, Zuzana is working to foster positive relationships and strategic partnerships in the community around Micron Technology Virginia and throughout the Commonwealth.