Congratulations to Hasantha Malavipathirana, doctoral student at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) in the College of Engineering and Computing (CEC), for being awarded the 2020 Cadence Women in Technology Scholarship.
The Cadence Women in Technology Scholarship is offered to eligible female students who demonstrate a strong academic record, exemplary leadership and technology skills towards the mission of building a culture that fosters inclusion and embraces diversity.
Malavipathirana is working on designing analog Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuits to simulate physical systems by solving their governing Partial Differential Equations (PDEs). She recently designed her first chip using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC) 180 nm CMOS technology, allowing to solve nonlinear PDEs to simulate acoustic wave propagation. PDEs are mathematical models of physics phenomena like those seen in electromagnetic fields in a fusion reactor or high-pressure sound waves produced by a speeding bullet.
Malavipathirana’ s research is sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) through Ocius Technologies and aims to support the design of future clean energy sources based on nuclear fusion. Her research is an important “baby step” toward the development of more advanced analog computers, designed to enable super-fast computing of simulations needed to support clean energy systems.
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering encompasses a broad range of research and educational interests. It continues to lead transformation and innovation within the engineering community, both locally and nationwide. In 2019-2020, the department received more than $15 million in sponsored research contracts. It also graduated more than 315 students.
Congratulations to Hasantha Malavipathirana. Way to go, Panther!
To read more about Malavipathirana’s research, please click here.