Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) proudly announces its 2026 Award Winners [https://www.src.org/award/], recognizing outstanding contributions to semiconductor research, education, advocacy, sustainability, and technology innovation. These awards celebrate professionals and university researchers whose work has significantly advanced the semiconductor industry and supported SRC’s mission to drive collaborative research and workforce development.
SRC Champion Award
The SRC Champion Award [https://www.src.org/award/src-champion/] honors individuals who demonstrate extraordinary commitment to advocating for SRC. The 2026 recipient is Timothy Rost of Texas Instruments.
Tim is recognized for his longstanding dedication to advancing SRC’s mission through his leadership in Texas Instruments’ Exploratory Research and University Programs and his instrumental support of the SPARC research collaboration. As Chair of the SPARC Research Council, he has strengthened connections between industry and academia, fostering meaningful technical collaboration while championing the value of SRC within Texas Instruments and across the broader semiconductor ecosystem. His sustained engagement, leadership, and unwavering support of SRC initiatives exemplify the spirit of the SRC Champion Award.
SRC Aristotle Award
Recognizing faculty whose commitment to student education has made a lasting impact on SRC members, the 2026 Aristotle Award [https://www.src.org/award/aristotle/] is presented to Arijit Raychowdhury of the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Arijit is widely recognized for his hands-on mentoring approach, which encourages students to develop technical depth, pursue innovation, and take ownership of their research. He creates an engaging and collaborative learning environment that supports independent problem-solving, interdisciplinary exploration, and exposure to emerging technologies in circuits, systems, and hardware research. Through strong industry engagement, including collaborations and internship opportunities with leading semiconductor companies, he helps prepare students to bridge academic research and real-world impact successfully. Arijit is also the recipient the 2021 SRC Technical Excellence Award.
Rama Divakaruni Technical Excellence Award
In 2025, SRC renamed its longstanding Technical Excellence Award to honor Rama Divakaruni, a visionary leader and mentor in the semiconductor industry. The Rama Divakaruni Technical Excellence Award [https://www.src.org/award/tech-excellence/] recognizes research of exceptional value to SRC members, celebrating innovative contributions that significantly advance the productivity and competitiveness of the semiconductor sector.
The 2026 recipient is Nam Sung Kim of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for his pioneering contributions to memory and storage architecture.
Nam Sung’s research has advanced foundational innovations that address the longstanding “memory wall” challenge, including early work that anticipated technologies now central to the industry, such as Compute Express Link (CXL). As an early academic collaborator on emerging industry standards, he provided valuable insights during critical pre-commercial development stages. His team’s groundbreaking characterization of CXL memory systems delivered real-world data that challenged simulation-based assumptions and accelerated industry adoption. Through continued leadership in system-level and operating-system innovations, Kim’s work continues to influence commercial datacenter architectures and next-generation hardware design.
Young Faculty Award
The Young Faculty Award [https://www.src.org/award/young-faculty/] spotlights rising researchers whose innovative work strengthens and advances SRC’s research agenda. The 2026 recipient is Jelena Notaros, Robert J. Shillman Career Development Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Jelena is recognized for her innovative contributions to silicon photonics through SRC’s CogniSense program. An expert in silicon-photonics devices, systems, and applications, her research advances integrated optical-phased-array technologies for solid-state LiDAR sensors, enabling high-performance non-mechanical beam steering in a low-cost, compact, and durable formfactor for applications spanning automotive systems, robotics, and advanced sensing. Outside of the CogniSense program, her research also develops silicon-photonics-based technologies for applications in augmented-reality displays, optical communications, biophotonics, 3D printing, and trapped-ion quantum systems. Her work addresses important industry needs and demonstrates the growing potential and impact of silicon photonics. A widely recognized emerging leader in her field and an accomplished educator, Notaros earned her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees from MIT and her B.S. from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Sustainable Future Award
Honoring contributions aligned with SRC’s commitment to sustainability, the 2026 Sustainable Future Award [https://www.src.org/award/sustainability/] is presented to Jihoon Seo of Hanyang University, and Elizabeth Podlaha-Murphy of Clarkson University.
Jihoon and Elizabeth are recognized for advancing environmentally sustainable semiconductor manufacturing through SRC Project #3100.001. Together with their research team, they developed environmentally benign chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) chemistries that replace traditional benzotriazole-based inhibitors with naturally derived amino acid alternatives. Their work demonstrated that greener chemistries can deliver competitive corrosion control and surface performance while providing non-toxic, biodegradable solutions with improved wastewater outcomes. By combining electrochemical experimentation, surface characterization, and first-principles modeling, they established predictive insights that support advanced materials processing. Their research provides a practical and industry-relevant pathway toward more sustainable semiconductor manufacturing and reflects the core mission of the Sustainable Future Award.
SRC Innovation Award
The Innovation Award [https://www.src.org/award/innovation/] recognizes impactful patents and intellectual property arising from SRC research. The 2026 recipient is Steven George of the University of Colorado.
Steven is honored for groundbreaking innovations in atomic layer etching technology that have had a transformative impact on semiconductor manufacturing. Emerging from SRC-supported research, his patented work established new atomic layer etching mechanisms that enable highly selective, self-limiting, and atomically precise material removal. These advances overcame key limitations of conventional etching processes by improving process control, minimizing damage, and enabling selective etching across a wide range of technologically important materials. The resulting scientific and technological breakthroughs have helped establish a framework for designing next-generation selective etch chemistries and continue to support innovations in advanced semiconductor device fabrication.
Mahboob Khan Outstanding Liaison Award
The Mahboob Khan Outstanding Liaison Award [https://www.src.org/award/khan-liaison/] celebrates SRC liaisons who make significant contributions to research, technology transfer, and the education and development of SRC Research Scholars. The 2026 recipients are:
- Amitabh Das, AMD
- Mike Delaus, Analog Devices
- Jin-Ping Han, IBM
- Peilin Song, IBM
- Ching-tzu Chen, IBM
- Brad Bingham, IBM
- Souvik Kundu, Intel
- Sohrab Aftabjanhani, Intel
- Richard Dorrance, Intel
- Chris Martino, RTX Collins
- Jinin So, Samsung
- Jongryool Kim, SK hynix
- Won-Tae Koo, SK hynix
- Tim Merkin, Texas Instruments
These 14 recipients, representing eight organizations, have demonstrated exceptional commitment to fostering collaboration between industry and academia, accelerating technology transfer, and supporting the growth and success of SRC-funded researchers. Their contributions play a critical role in ensuring that SRC research delivers meaningful impact across the semiconductor ecosystem.
Special Recognition Award
SRC is also pleased to recognize John Neuffer, president and CEO of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), for his transformative leadership of the global semiconductor industry and his enduring partnership with Semiconductor Research Corporation.
Through his advocacy, strategic vision, and commitment to advancing the semiconductor ecosystem, Neuffer has helped strengthen collaboration across industry, government, and academia while promoting innovation, competitiveness, and long-term growth throughout the semiconductor sector.
Celebrating Excellence Across the Semiconductor Ecosystem
SRC congratulates all 2026 award recipients for their exceptional achievements and unwavering dedication to advancing semiconductor research, innovation, education, sustainability, and industry collaboration. Their contributions are helping solve some of the industry’s most significant challenges while inspiring the next generation of researchers, engineers, and technology leaders. SRC is proud to recognize these individuals and their lasting impact on the global semiconductor ecosystem and the future of technological innovation.
About Semiconductor Research Corporation
Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) is the world’s leading university-research consortium for semiconductors. For more than 40 years, SRC has united industry, academia, and government to identify critical technology challenges, invest in groundbreaking university research, and develop the talent that powers the global semiconductor ecosystem.
Since 1982, SRC has helped shape the future of semiconductor innovation by funding thousands of research projects, advancing transformative technologies, and educating generations of engineers and scientists who now lead across industry, academia, and government. Through collaborative research programs, including SPARC, JUMP 2.0, and other strategic initiatives, SRC enables its members to access breakthrough research, foundational intellectual property, and a highly skilled workforce while accelerating innovation for the benefit of society.
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