University of Utah electrical and computer engineering assistant professor Pierre-Emmanuel Gaillardon has received the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award for his research on developing transistors that can do more, not just work faster.
The award, more than $476,000 over five years, covers research to be conducted by Gaillardon and his team of students as well as for the development of a YouTube channel on the subject to target K through 12 students.
“It is an honor to be recognized by the NSF through the CAREER program,” he said about the award.
The project is to develop high-energy-efficiency computing systems by making a more useful device/transistor that has more functionality rather than just faster or smaller. It also will focus on novel solutions to create cost-effective devices that can be more easily integrated in current manufacturing processes.
“By using such new transistors with increased capabilities, it can lead to circuits with a higher level of performance,” Gaillardon said. “Getting higher performance is usually achieved by reducing the transistor size, which is very costly. Here, we get more performance by engineering our transistors differently.”
Gaillardon, who also is an adjunct assistant professor in the School of Computing, arrived at the University of Utah in January 2016. He received his doctorate in electrical engineering from École centrale de Lyon in Lyon, France. Before coming to Utah, he was a research associate at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The NSF CAREER Award is given out to faculty “who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.”