Semiconductor Research Corporation Announces 2025 Award Winners, Honoring Outstanding Contributions and Innovation

Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) has announced its 2025 Award Winners, recognizing outstanding contributions in semiconductor research, advocacy, and technology innovation. The SRC Champion Award goes to Dr. Carlos Diaz (TSMC) for his commitment to advancing SRC's mission. The SRC Aristotle Award is given to Professor Gregory Parsons (North Carolina State University) for his commitment to student education. The Rama Divakaruni Technical Excellence Award is given to Professor Shimeng Yu (Georgia Institute of Technology) for his work on system-technology co-optimization and developing the NeuroSim simulator.

The Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) has announced its 2025 Award Winners, recognizing outstanding contributions in semiconductor research, advocacy, and technology innovation. The awards, which are part of SRC's mission to advance the semiconductor industry, highlight the exceptional work of professionals and university researchers.

SRC Champion Award: Dr. Carlos Diaz (TSMC)

The SRC Champion Award honors individuals who demonstrate extraordinary commitment to advocating for SRC. The 2025 recipient, Dr. Carlos Diaz of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), is recognized for his significant contributions to advancing SRC’s mission in both research and education. Dr. Diaz, who has led the technology pathfinding stages of 10nm and 5nm technology nodes and the research stage of 2nm technology, has secured substantial annual support for crucial research and workforce development programs such as JUMP/nCORE, GRC, and JUMP 2.0/REU. His advocacy has enabled collaborative innovation across the U.S. and Taiwan. Dr. Diaz’s distinguished career includes over 100 technical papers and over 240 US patents [1].

SRC Aristotle Award: Professor Gregory Parsons (North Carolina State University)

Recognizing faculty whose commitment to student education has made a lasting impact, the SRC Aristotle Award goes to Professor Gregory Parsons of North Carolina State University. Professor Parsons is internationally recognized for his advances in surface reaction engineering, particularly in thin film deposition, etching, and patterning for advanced electronic materials and devices. His work has elevated atomic-scale synthesis and processing, including reaction mechanisms for ALD, ALE, ASD, MLD, and related techniques. Since the mid-1990s, Dr. Parsons has guided more than 50 PhD graduates, many supported through SRC research and education development programs. He fosters a collaborative research culture advancing surface chemical processes essential for future electronics and advanced materials. Professor Parsons co-founded the AVS Atomic Layer Deposition Conference in 2001, now the field’s leading ALD forum, welcoming over 1,000 attendees in 2025. His leadership has shaped generations of researchers who now lead at top technology companies, national labs, and academic institutions [2].

Rama Divakaruni Technical Excellence Award: Professor Shimeng Yu (Georgia Institute of Technology)

The Rama Divakaruni Technical Excellence Award recognizes research of exceptional value to SRC members, celebrating innovative contributions that significantly advance the productivity and competitiveness of the semiconductor sector. The 2025 awardee, Professor Shimeng Yu of Georgia Institute of Technology, is recognized for pioneering system-technology co-optimization (STCO) and developing the NeuroSim simulator. His work models emerging memory technologies and advances efficient AI hardware design, bridging theory and practical implementation in collaboration with leading semiconductor companies. Dr. Yu’s innovations continue to shape next-generation computing. He is currently Theme Leader of two SRC/DARPA JUMP 2.0 projects on intelligent memory/storage and heterogeneous/monolithic 3D integration. Professor Yu’s research interests are semiconductor devices and integrated circuits for AI hardware and 3D stacked systems. He has published over 500 research papers, cited more than 35,000 times, and holds an H-index of 85—a measure of both productivity and impact [2].

Conclusion

The 2025 Award Winners from SRC represent the pinnacle of innovation and dedication in the semiconductor industry. Their contributions underscore the importance of ongoing research, education, and advocacy in driving the sector forward. As the semiconductor landscape continues to evolve, the work of these distinguished professionals will be pivotal in shaping the future of technology.

References
[1] https://www.ainvest.com/news/navigating-geopolitical-tides-nvidia-strategic-shift-semiconductor-sector-resilience-playbook-2508/
[2] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/src-announces-2025-award-recipients-130000899.html