Dear Colleague,

We are getting ready for the publication of the next issue of VSI VISION. We
will be happy to receive brief reports of the following and publish them in VSI
VISION (Issue 1, 2009).

1) Peer-reviewed technical papers related to all aspects of VLSI, published in
reputed international conferences/journals. The papers must have been published
in 2008. At least one author must be from India. Please include the names of
authors, title of the paper, and the name of the cofnerence where the paper was
presented. Please highlight the names of authors from India in the list of
authors.

I wish to exclude the papers published in VDAT or VLSI Design conferences in
this list.

2) MS/Ph.D. theses related to VLSI and awarded degrees in Indian academic
institutions in 2008.

3) Patents originating from India in the area of VLSI.

4) Awards granted to Professors/Students/Professionals from India for their work
in the area of VLSI.

We need this information no later than Nov 25, 2008. Please encourage your
colleagues to provide this information as well!

Regards

C.P. Ravikumar

Enter your vote today!  A new poll has been created for the
vdat group:

How can the Indian semiconductor industry contribute to increase in the number
and quality of of Indian Ph.D.s that are in the area of semiconductors?

   o I am a student who wishes to enroll for Ph.D. and I would be attracted by a
higher-value fellowship from an industry
   o I am a student who wishes to enroll for Ph.D. and I am more attracted to
having an industry involvement in Ph.D. guidance.
   o I am a student who wishes to enroll for Ph.D. and I will be attracted by job
prospects in the Indian industry at the end of my Ph.D.
   o I am a working professional from the industry wishing to do Ph.D. and I will
be attracted by better recognition after I complete my degree.
   o I am a working professional with a Ph.D. degree and I wish to contribute my
technical expertise through co-supervision of Ph.Ds.
   o I am a working professional in the industry and can provide tehnical reviews
for Ph.D. proposals.
   o I am a senior executive and can convince my company and would encourage my
reports to enroll in Ph.D.
   o I am a senior executive and I will be able to set up
fellowships/scholarships/awards to encourage Ph.D.s
   o I am from industry and I can contribute in other ways. (Please provide
details in a separate mail.)


To vote, please visit the following web page:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vdat/surveys?id=2789281

Note: Please do not reply to this message. Poll votes are
not collected via email. To vote, you must go to the Yahoo! Groups
web site listed above.

Thanks!

Dear Colleague,

I got a message from a friend that Prof. D. Mukhopadhyay passed away
in the early morning of 12th Nov, 2008 in Kolkata.

I have known Prof. Mukhopadhyay for many years - he has been
attending the VLSI Design and Test Symposium for several years.  A
number of my colleagues at Texas Instruments, who are alumni for
Jadavpur University, fondly remember him as a great teacher.

I recall the Panel Discussion at VDAT in Bangalore (2005) where
Prof. Mukhopadhyay spoke from the audience  with emotion about the
serious problem the Universities are facing in hiring and retaining
faculty. His pointed out how over generations the problem has become
more and more acute - students today have very few role models among
their teachers.  He pointed out that the discrepancy in the salaries
paid by the industry and academic institutions is the fundamental
reason for this problem.

Prof. Mukhopadhyay was instrumental in taking VDAT 2007 to Kolkata.
He convinced many Professors and Industry leaders from Kolkata to
make a proposal for hosting VDAT 2007. He himself served as one of
the Program Chairs and contributed to the success of the event. On
several occasions, I had the opportunity to meet him and listen to
his ideas. I admired his passion for his students, teaching, and
research work.

Prof. Mukhopadhyay will be missed not only by his family and
students, but also by the VLSI community of India, to which he has
made a significant contribution.

On behalf of VSI and on my own behalf, I offer my condolences to his
family. A fitting tribute to Prof. Mukhopadhyay will come in the
form any efforts we make towards improving the faculty position in
our Universities.

Regards,

C.P. Ravikumar

Dear Colleague,

1. The photographs taken at VDAT 2008 are now available at

    http://vlsi-india.org/vsi/photos/vdat08_blr/


2. For those who have already sent us information about their
publications and patents in the last six months, thank you. A gentle
reminder to others to send this no later than Friday (Nov 28, 2008).

3. As per the announcement made at VDAT 2008, we invite the
participants of the event to submit summaries of the panel
discussions held at the symposium. If your summary gets accepted for
publication, a suitable reward will be mailed to you.

4. Please feel free to send your opinions/feedback/suggestions. We
will consider these for publication in the next issue of VSI VISION.


5. We have had about 50+ responses to the poll about research in
VLSI. Those who have not yet taken the poll, please take a minute
and fill out your response. All the polls announced by VSI are
available at:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/vdat/polls

Please feel free to update your poll responses.

Regards


Ravikumar

The IEEE Nanotechnology Materials and Devices Conference (NMDC) will
be held in Traverse City, Michigan, USA, June 2-5, 2009.

The Organizing Committee is pleased to invite you to participate in the
Conference. Traverse City is one of the best travel places in Northern
Michigan. A spectacular natural environment surrounded by fresh green
forests and shiny blue waters near Lake Michigan shoreline. Traverse
City's East Bay waterfront is a favorite with summer visitors. There are
plenty of other activities available in Traverse City. Visit some of many
art galleries. Take in a museum. Play mini-golf or drive a go-kart on a
race track. Ride a restored antique carousel inside a shopping mall.
Stroll though the vibrant downtown shopping district. There's no end to
the action in Traverse City!

Grand Traverse Resort and Spa provides luxurious accommodations, indoor
water playground, tournament-caliber golf, world-class spa, superb dining,
our nearby Turtle Creek Casino and up to 85,000 square feet of meeting
facilities showcase our attentive hospitality.

NMDC aims to develop critical assessment of existing work and future
directions in nanotechnology research including nanomaterials and
fabrications, nanoelectronics, nanophotonics, devices, and integration.
This conference will bring together key researchers from all over the
world and from every sector of academy and industry in the nanotechnology
research field, with a special focus on materials and devices, technical
topics include as follow,

   1.  Growth and processing technology for nanoelectronics and photonics
   2.  CMOS and related nano-technology
   3.  Quantum devices and physics
   4.  Nano-photonics and optical devices
   5.  Molecular electronics and bio devices
   6.  Nano magnetic materials and spin devices
   7.  Nanomechanics, nanoprobing and applications
   8.  GaN-related semiconductors and devices
   9.  Oxide semiconductors and nanomaterials

Please submit your 2-page abstract in the usual format limited to two
pages electronically through the IEEE NMDC 2009 conference website at
http://www.egr.msu.edu/nmdc2009. In accordance with IEEE requirements,
only PDF files will be accepted. The accepted paper will appear in IEEE
Xplore database and EI-indexed. For additional inquire, please e-mail to
nmdc2009@....

Important Dates:

   Feb 15, 2009    Deadline of two pages abstract
   Mar 15, 2009    Notice of the acceptance
   April 15, 2009  Deadline of final manuscripts

Sincerely,
Ning Xi
General Chair
2009 IEEE Nanotechnology Materials and Devices Conference (IEEE NMDC 2009)

C A L L    F O R    P A P E R S
                  ===============================

                        CALL  FOR  PAPERS
                              and
               Call For Workshop/Session Proposals

              The 2009 International Conference on
         Modeling, Simulation and Visualization Methods
                            MSV'09

       Date and Location: July 13-16, 2009, Las Vegas, USA

You are invited to submit a paper (and/or a proposal to organize
a session/workshop).  All accepted papers will be published in the
respective conference proceedings.

SCOPE: Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

   O  Simulation languages
   O  Modeling and simulation for computer engineering
   O  Modeling and simulation for education and training
   O  Molecular modeling and simulation
   O  Performance modeling, simulation, and prediction
   O  Modeling, simulation, and emulation of large-scale, volatile
      environments
   O  Performance Evaluation and Simulation Tools
   O  Modeling and simulation tools for nanotechnology
   O  Real-time modeling and simulation
   O  Geometric modeling
   O  Information and scientific visualization
   O  Perceptual issues in visualization and modeling
   O  Modeling methodologies
   O  Specification issues for modeling and simulation
   O  Visual interactive simulation and modeling
   O  Visualization tools and systems for simulation and modeling
   O  Java-based modelers
   O  Scalability issues
   O  Numerical methods used in simulation and modeling
   O  Finite and boundary element techniques
   O  Process simulation/modeling
   O  Device simulation/modeling
   O  Circuit simulation/modeling
   O  Multi-level modeling
   O  Simulation of machine architectures
   O  Simulation of wireless systems
   O  Simulation and modeling with applications in biotechnology
   O  CAD/CAE/CAM
   O  Prototyping and simulation
   O  Biomedical visualization and applications
   O  Databases and visualization
   O  Interaction paradigms and human factors
   O  Parallel and distributed simulation
   O  Discrete and numeric simulation
   O  Internet, web and security visualization
   O  Virtual reality and simulation
   O  Virtual environments and data visualization
   O  Tools and applications
   O  Object-oriented simulation
   O  Knowledge-based simulation
   O  Emerging technologies and applications

Web links:
http://www.world-academy-of-science.org/worldcomp09/ws/conferences/msv09
http://www.world-academy-of-science.org/

ACADEMIC CO-SPONSORS:

    Currently being prepared - it will include a number of active
    research laboratories and centers that have helped to shape our
    field.  The Academic Co-Sponsors of the last offering of
    MSV included research labs at Harvard University, UCLA,
    University of Minnesota, University of Illinois at Urbana-
    Champaign, Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University,
    University of Texas at Austin, MIT, George Mason University,
    University of Iowa, Russian Academy of Sciences, NEMO/European
    Union, and others.  Corporate Co-Sponsors included, Google,
    Salford Systems, Synplicity, Supermicro, NIIT, and others.

General Co-Chair and Coordinator:

    H. R. Arabnia, PhD
    Professor, Computer Science
    Editor-in-Chief, The Journal of Supercomputing (Springer)
    Advisory Board, IEEE Technical Committee on TCSC
    Vice President, Int'l Society of Intelligent Biological Medicine
    The University of Georgia
    Department of Computer Science
    415 Boyd Building
    Athens, Georgia 30602-7404, USA

    Tel: (706) 542-3480
    Fax: (706) 542-2966
    E-mail: hra@...

SUBMISSION OF PAPERS:

    Prospective authors are invited to submit their draft papers by
    uploading them to http://worldcomp.cviog.uga.edu/ .
    Submissions must be received by Feb. 25, 2009 and they must be in
    either MS doc or pdf formats (about 5 to 7 pages - single space,
    font size of 10 to 12).  All reasonable typesetting formats are
    acceptable (later, the authors of accepted papers will be asked to
    follow a particular typesetting format to prepare their papers for
    publication.)

    The length of the Camera-Ready papers (if accepted) will be limited
    to 7 (IEEE style) pages.  Papers must not have been previously
    published or currently submitted for publication elsewhere.  The
    first page of the draft paper should include: title of the paper,
    name, affiliation, postal address, and email address for each author.
    The first page should also identify the name of the Contact Author
    and a maximum of 5 topical keywords that would best represent the
    content of the paper.  Finally, the name of the conference (MSV)
    must be mentioned on the first page.

    Papers will be evaluated for originality, significance, clarity,
    impact, and soundness.  Each paper will be refereed by two experts
    in the field who are independent of the conference program committee.
    The referees' evaluations will then be reviewed by two members of
    the program committee who will recommend a decision to the co-chairs.
    The co-chairs will make the final decision.  Lastly, the Camera-Ready
    papers will be reviewed by one member of the program committee.

PROPOSAL FOR ORGANIZING SESSIONS/WORKSHOPS:

    Each session will have at least 6 paper presentations from
    different authors (12 papers in the case of workshops).  The
    session chairs will be responsible for all aspects of their
    sessions; including, soliciting papers, reviewing, selecting, ...
    The names of session chairs will appear as Associate Editors in
    the conference proceedings and on the cover of the books.

    Proposals to organize sessions should include the following
    information: name and address (+ email) of proposer, title of
    session, a 100-word description of the topic of the session,
    the name of the conference the session is submitted for
    consideration (ie, MSV'09), and a short description on how
    the session will be advertised (in most cases, session proposers
    solicit papers from colleagues and researchers whose work is
    known to the session proposer).  email your session proposal
    to Prof. Arabnia (address is given above).  We would like to
    receive the proposals by January 16, 2009.

IMPORTANT DATES:

    Jan.  16, 2009:    Proposals for organizing/chairing sessions/workshops
    Feb.  25, 2009:    Submission of papers (about 5 to 7 pages)
    March 25, 2009:    Notification of acceptance
    April 25, 2009:    Camera-Ready papers and Registration due
    July 13-16, 2009:  The 2009 International Conference on Modeling,
                       Simulation and Visualization Methods (MSV'09)

MEMBERS OF PROGRAM AND ORGANIZING COMMITTEES:

    The Program Committee includes members of chapters of World Academy
    of Science (chapters: supercomputing; scientific computing; AI;
    imaging science; databases; simulation; software engineering;
    embedded systems; internet and web technologies; communications;
    bioinformatics; computational biology; and computer security.)
    The Program Committee for MSV is currently being formed.  Those
    interested in joining the Program Committee should email Prof. Arabnia
    (hra@...) the following information: Name, affiliation
    and position, complete mailing address, email address, a short
    biography together with research interests and the name of the
    conference (MSV) offering to help with.
    Many who have already joined the committees of individual tracks
    are renowned leaders, scholars, researchers, scientists and
    practitioners of the highest ranks; many are directors of research
    laboratories, fellows of various societies, heads/chairs of
    departments, deans and provosts.

PURPOSE / HISTORY:

    MSV'09 is an annual research conference about modeling, simulation
    and visualization methods.  It is being held jointly (same location
    and dates) with a number of other conferences (WORLDCOMP'09).
    WORLDCOMP is the largest annual gathering of researchers in computer
    science, computer engineering and applied computing.

    The motivation is to assemble a spectrum of affiliated research topics
    into a coordinated meeting held in a common place at a common time.
    The main goal is to provide a forum for exchange of ideas in a number
    of research areas that interact.  The model used facilitates
    communication among researchers from all over the world in different
    fields of computer science, computer engineering and applied
    computing.  Both inward research (core areas of computer science and
    engineering) and outward research (multi-disciplinary, inter-disciplinary,
    and applications) will be covered during the event.

    MSV'09 and WORLDCOMP'09 will be composed of research presentations,
    keynote lectures, invited presentations, tutorials, panel discussions,
    and poster presentations.  In recent past, keynote and/or tutorial
    speakers included: Prof. David A. Patterson (U. of California,
    Berkeley); Prof. Michael J. Flynn (Stanford U.); Prof. John H. Holland
    (U. of Michigan, Ann Arbor); Prof. Brian D. Athey (U. of Michigan,
    Ann Arbor), Prof. H. J. Siegel (Colorado State U.); Prof. Barry Vercoe
    (MIT); Prof. Ruzena Bajcsy (U. of California, Berkeley);
    Prof. Jun Liu (Harvard U.); Dr. Jim Gettys (OLPC + developer of X
    Window); Dr. Chris Rowen (President and CEO, Tensilica, Inc.); and
    many other distinguished speakers.

LOCATION OF CONFERENCES:

    The conferences will be held in the Monte Carlo hotel, Las Vegas,
    Nevada, USA (with any overflows at other near-by hotels).  This is
    a mega hotel with excellent conference facilities and over 3,000
    rooms.  It is minutes from the airport with 24-hour shuttle
    service to and from the airport.  This hotel has many recreational
    attractions, including: waterfalls, spa, pools, sunning decks, Easy
    River, wave pool, lighted tennis courts, health spa, nightly shows,
    a number of restaurants, ...  The negotiated room rate for
    conference attendees is very reasonable.  The hotel is within
    walking distance from most other attractions (recreational
    destinations, Golf courses, ...)

Dear Colleague,

Wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year!

With an endeavor to make things better for our members, VSI has
introduced some new features in its website. In summary, most VSI
publications are now available for online access for members. Non-
members can access the abstracts of the papers, whereas members can
download the full papers. We believe it will provide wide publicity
to the publications and authors, and help researchers in locating
research material.

Please read on for further details.

"VSI Discoverer"

Using this discovery engine, both members and non-members can search
for papers published in most events, including VDAT (VLSI Design and
Test Symposium).

Non-member access:
Visit
http://vlsi-india.org/vsi/pub/vdat/search.html
in order to search and locate papers/reports published in VSI events.
Full abstracts of the papers can be accessed from
http://vlsi-india.org/vsi/pub/vdat/index.html

Member access:

In addition to the above facility, members can login at
http://members.vlsi-india.org/
and access the full text of papers published in most VSI events.

Step 1 - Visit http://members.vlsi-india.org/

Step 2 - First-time users must click on "Members" tab. You will be
requested to enter your membership number and the e-mail ID which
you provided in the membership form. After successfully registering
yourself, you can set your password.

Step 3 - Using your password, login at http://members.vlsi-india.org/
You can search in the archives by providing keywords or names of
authors - e.g. "Memory Test" or "Shabbir".

We hope the members of VSI will benefit from this new feature! If
you have difficulty registering yourself as a member, please write
to vsisecy@... providing the details of your membership.
Please note that you must have renewed your membership.

Once again, I wish you a very happy New Year! I will soon send an
update on VSI VISION (Jan 2009 issue).

Regards

C.P. Ravikumar

(I am forwarding a message from the organizers of PRIME conference,
2009).

==============
Subject: 5th IEEE Conference on PhD research in microelectronics and
electronics 2009

Dear all,

The 5th IEEE Conference on PhD research in microelectronics and
electronics, PRIME 2009 (www.prime2009.org) in Cork Ireland, invites
submissions of four-page papers from Ph.D. students.

The objectives of PRIME are:

   * to encourage favourable exposure to Ph.D. students in the early
stages
of their careers,
   * to benchmark Ph.D. research in a friendly and cooperative
environment,
   * to enable sharing of students’ and supervisors’ experiences
of
scientific and engineering research, and
   * to connect Ph.D. students and their supervisors with companies
and
research centres.

The first author/presenter of each paper must be a Ph.D. student
(with no
more than three authors per paper).

The IEEE Circuits and Systems (CAS) Society [Region 8] sponsors this
conference. All papers presented at PRIME 2009 will be published in
the
IEEE Xplore database.

In addition to the submitted papers, there will be keynote talks,
short
courses, panel discussions, a tour of an integrated circuit
manufacturing
facility, and a company fair to allow Ph.D. students to make contact
with
industries and other research institutions.

For more details visit the website www.prime2009.org or refer to the
Call
for Papers attached to this email.



Regards,
Michael Peter Kennedy (General Chair of PRIME 2009)



Michael Peter Kennedy PhD(Calif) FIEEE MRIA
Professor of Microelectronic Engineering

University College Cork
Department of Microelectronic Engineering
and Tyndall National Institute,
Butler Building, North Mall
Cork, Ireland

Krishnendu Chakrabarty received the B. Tech. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, in

1990, and the M.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1992 and 1995,

respectively, all in Computer Science and Engineering. He is now Professor of Electrical and Computer

Engineering at Duke University. Dr. Chakrabarty is a recipient of the National Science Foundation Early

Faculty (CAREER) award, the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator award, the Humboldt Research

Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany, and several best papers awards at IEEE

conferences. His current research projects include: testing of system-on-chip integrated circuits; microfluidic

biochips; wireless sensor networks. He has authored seven books on these topics, and published over 250

papers in journals and refereed conference proceedings.

Prof. Chakrabarty is a Distinguished Visitor of the IEEE Computer Society for 2005-2007 and a Distinguished Lecturer of

the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society for 2006-2007. He is an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design

of Integrated Circuits and Systems, IEEE Transactions on VLSI Systems, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and System I, IEEE

Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems, and ACM Journal on Emerging Technologies in Computing Systems. He is

an Editor of IEEE Design & Test of Computers and of the Journal of Electronic Testing: Theory and Applications (JETTA). Prof.

Chakrabarty is a senior member of IEEE, a senior member of ACM, and a member of Sigma Xi.

More information about the speaker can be found on http://people.ee.duke.edu/~krish/

The seminar is open to all members of VSI. Contact VSI secretariat (vsisecy@...) with details of your name VSI membership number, nationality, and organization no later than Feb 9 (5.00 PM IST). You must carry an organizaitonal photo-id and arrive at least 15 minutes before the event begins to go through security.

Dear Colleague,

Greetings!

The Call for Papers for VDAT 2009 is now available from http://vlsi-
india.org. The submission deadline is March 31. Please download the
Call for Papers and read it carefully. As you will notice, this
year, we are introducing some changes. The website will be updated
with details on a regular basis.

Microsoft CMT will be used for submission of papers. We will
activate the submission system on March 15 and keep it open until
March 31. Please note that March 31 is a hard deadline.

We believe that the new focus areas we have included will make it
possible for a larger community to take part in VDAT. Please bring
this to the notice of your colleagues from other relevant
departments (EE, CS, Biomedical, etc.)

We look forward to your submissions and suggestions.

Regards

C.P. Ravikumar

======== I am forwarding a message from ACM Bangalore ============

All,

ACM Bangalore Chapter is launching Distinguished Speaker Program
(DSP) in India on February 14, 2009. The first in this series is in
the area of VLSI and EDA. The talk would be followed by a panel
discussion.

DISTINGUISHED SPEAKERS PROGRAM TALK
TITLE: Automated Design of Digital Microfluidic Lab-on-Chip:
Connecting Biochemistry to Information Technology and Electronic
Design Automation
SPEAKER: Krishnendu Chakrabarty, Duke University

PANEL DISCUSSION
TITLE: Functional Diversification and More than Moore: Impact on the
VLSI Industry and VLSI Education
Moderator: Krishnendu Chakrabarty, Duke University
Panelist:
- Pramod Chandra P Bhatt, IIT Delhi
- Madabusi Govindarajan, IBM
- Nagavolu Srinivasa Murty, NXP Semiconductors
- Jagdish Rao, Texas Instruments
- C.P. Ravikumar, Texas Instruments
- Mysore Sriram, Intel

The details are attached with this email. Alternatively, you can
visit event website: http://acmbangalore.org//index.php?
option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=4

Please note this event is free, however, there are limited seats.
Register online at:
http://acmbangalore.org//index.php?
option=com_attend_events&task=view&id=1&Itemid=2

This event is in-cooperation with IEEE-CS Bangalore Section and VLSI
Society of India.

Best regards,
Akshay Darbari
ACM Bangalore

Date: February 14, 2008

Dear Colleague,

Greetings!

1. The registration for the one-day workshop on "Design Automation Algorithms
for FPGA" is now closed. The participants will receive confirmation from VSI
secretariat along with details of the venue.

2.

The Call for Papers for VDAT 2009 is now available from http://vlsi-
india.org. The submission deadline is March 31. Please download the
Call for Papers and read it carefully. As you will notice, this
year, we are introducing some changes. The website will be updated
with details on a regular basis.

Microsoft CMT will be used for submission of papers. The submission system will
remain open until March 31. Please note that March 31 is a hard deadline.

We believe that the new focus areas we have included will make it
possible for a larger community to take part in VDAT. Please bring
this to the notice of your colleagues from other relevant
departments (EE, CS, Biomedical, etc.)

We look forward to your submissions and suggestions.

Regards

C.P. Ravikumar

Dear Colleague,

VDAT 2009 will be held during July 8 - July 10, 2009 in Bangalore.  The VDAT website has been updated with the advance program and the registration details. I have provided the links later in the message.

There are 4 excellent tutorials on Day 1. There is a good technical program with keynote talks, invited talks, submitted paper presentations, and panel discussions on Days 2 and 3. 

Please attend and encourage your colleagues to attend. 

(a) This year, we are offering a uniform fee structure for all Indian students and faculty.  Please look at the registration link below.

(b) For every 5 registrations from the same organization, a sixth registration will be offered on a complimentary basis.  Please work with your HR and send in the registrations together to take advantage of this special offer.

(c) If you wish to sponsor VDAT 2009 or put up an exhibit stall, please get in touch with me.

(d) We have very limited guest house accommodation at IISc that we will provide to interested faculty members on a first-come first-served basis. Please write to vsisecy@... for availing this.

The following links will be useful to you:

Regards

C.P. Ravikumar

General Chair, VDAT 2009

***********************************************************************
*                            CALL FOR PAPERS                          *
*                  23rd Intl. Conference on VLSI Design               *

*                9th Intl. Conference on Embedded Systems             *
*                            Jan 3 - 7, 2010                          *
*                           Bangalore, India                          *

*                     http://www.vlsiconference.com                   *
***********************************************************************


THEME: Affordable Technology for Emerging Markets

This joint conference is a forum for researchers and designers to
present and discuss various aspects of VLSI design, electronic design
automation (EDA), enabling technologies, and embedded systems. It covers

the entire spectrum of activities in the two vital areas of very large
scale integration (VLSI) and embedded systems, which underpin the
semiconductor industry. The five-day technical program will consist of
three days of regular paper sessions, special sessions, embedded

tutorials, industry presentation sessions, panel discussions, design
contests and industrial exhibits, and two days of full-day tutorials.
Electronic systems are ubiquitous today in multiple applications, with
emerging markets in health-care, entertainment and machine intelligence

spurring several new ones. These markets often hinge delicately on the
right blend of technology and affordability. Accordingly, the theme for
this conference is set as "Affordable Technology for Emerging Markets".


TOPICS: Papers are invited on topics related to (but not limited to) the
following areas:

1) VLSI Design and Design Methodologies:

       Analog and RF mixed-signal design
       CMOS sensors and MEMS

       Design for manufacturability, reliability and yield
       High-performance computing
       Medical and automotive electronics
       Mixed-signal design and technology CAD
       Multi-core architectures

       Nano-scale  computing and nano-electronics
       Networks-on-chip
       Packaging and board design
       Physical design
       Power analysis and low-power design
       Synthesis, DFT and test

       Thermal analysis and temperature-aware design
       Verification (simulation and formal)

2) Embedded Systems

       Audio, image and video processing
       Case studies
       ESL design flows

       Embedded software tools
       Emerging applications: Health-care, imaging systems,
       entertainment, sensor networks, ambient  intelligence
       Extensible, application-specific and reconfigurable processing

       FPGA/Emulation based design prototyping
       Hardware/Software co-design
       Performance analysis and profiling
       Security and compression

3) Conference Theme

       Automation needs to meet new product challenges

       Concurrent engineering
       Design and technology management
       Economics of design and manufacturing
       Emerging markets

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: All submissions must be made at the conference

web site, http://www.vlsiconference.com.

Regular papers: The manuscript, to be prepared in IEEE two-column
conference format and not to exceed six pages, must describe previously

unpublished work, focusing on novel ideas, results and applications of
the contribution. Submissions will undergo a BLIND review process:
Papers disclosing the identity of the authors will be rejected.

Embedded tutorials & Special Sessions: Proposals in emerging areas of

relevance to this conference can be submitted as two-page extended
abstracts with details of topics covered. Accepted proposals will
require full regular papers to be submitted.

Panels: Proposals must be submitted together with an abstract, together

with names of panelists.

All submissions of papers and proposals will imply that, if selected,
the same must be presented at the conference in person. Hence, approvals
from parent organizations must be obtained before the submissions are made.


TUTORIALS: Two days will be dedicated to full-day tutorials on important
and emerging topics. Coordinating presenters are encouraged to submit
proposals in the specified format giving adequate information on topics

covered and details of other presenters.

EXHIBITS: The conference provides a unique opportunity for vendors of
VLSI design tools and services to display their products and services.
Exhibition space is limited, hence those interested should contact the

Exhibit Chair.

DESIGN CONTEST:  Please check the conference website or contact the
Design Contest Chair for more information.

FELLOWSHIPS: The Fellowship Chairs will award fellowships, based on need
and merit, to partially cover the expenses of attendees from India.

Candidates with accepted submissions will be given preference.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Submissions:
        Regular papers                                   Jul 10, 2009
        Special sessions, Embedded Tutorials & Panels    Jul 10, 2009

        Full-day tutorials                               Jul 10, 2009

Acceptance notification                             Sep 15, 2009
Fellowship applications due                         Oct 01, 2009

CONFERENCE COMITTEE:


Steering Committee Chair
Vishwani D. Agrawal, Auburn University, vagrawal@...

General Chairs:
Mahesh Mehendale, Texas Instruments, m-mehendale@...

Srivaths Ravi, Texas Instruments. srivaths.ravi@...

Program Chairs:
Niraj K. Jha, Princeton University, jha@...

Rubin A. Parekhji, Texas Instruments. parekhji@...

Tutorial Chairs
Anand Raghunathan, Purdue University, raghunathan@...

Preeti Ranjan Panda, IIT Delhi, panda@...

Publications Chair
C. P. Ravikumar, Texas Instruments, ravikumar@...


Organizing Committee
R. Madhu (Chair), Texas Instruments, rmad@...
S. Ramesh (Chair), Texas Instruments, s-ramesh@...


Sponsorship Chair
S. Uma Mahesh, Indrion Technologies, mahesh@...

Exhibit Chair
Jai Durgam, Synopsys, jai.durgam@...


Industry Forum Chair
Pradip Dutta, Synopsys, pradip.dutta@...

Publicity Chair
Kanishka Lahiri, AMD, kanishka.lahiri@...


Finance Chair
Gopal Naidu, Texas Instruments, srgnaidu@...

Design Contest Chair
Nagendra Krishnapura, IIT Chennai, nagendra@...


Fellowship Chairs
V. Kamakoti , IIT Chennai, kama@...

Pradip Thaker, Analog Devices, pradip.thaker@...


Regional Liaisons
Dimitris Gizopoulos, Univ. of Piraeus, dgizop@...
Vijay K. Narayanan, Penn State University, vijay@...

Kazumi Hatayama, STARC, hatayama.kazumi@...

IEEE Liaison
N. Ranganathan, Univ of South Florida, ranganat@...


Student Track Chairs
Virendra Singh, IISc Bangalore, virendra@...
R. Venkatraman, Texas Instruments, rvenkat@...


For more information, please visit http://www.vlsiconference.com

Dear Colleague,

As in the past, VDAT will feature a "Research Scholar Forum" where Ph.D.
scholars and MS(R) scholars can present their work to seek feedback from the
experts who will be present in the session. The VDAT 2009 website has the
necessary information on how to submit papers to the research scholar forum.
While the paper can have coauthors, it is necessary that the presentation is
made by a research scholar. Please note that June 15 is the last date for
submitting papers to RSF.

Regards

C.P. Ravikumar

Dear Colleague,

We are happy to announce that PES School of Engineering (PESSE) has agreed to
provide low-cost accommodation to participants of VDAT 2009 who wish to avail
this facility. PES School of Engineering Campus is located on Hosur Road and is
about 2 km from Wipro campus, Electronics City.  PESSE Gents' hostel is located
within the PESSE campus, and the Ladies' hostel is closeby to the campus (about
1km). You can find the location on Google maps.

The room rent per person: Rs.500/- per night on a triple-sharing basis.
Participants may also choose to book single room instead of sharing for Rs.
1500/-, or twin-sharing for Rs.750/- per person. The charges include pick-up and
drop from/to the VDAT venue. The hostel also offers food facility in the night,
at an additional cost.

PESSE has agreed to accommodate participants from industry and academia.  Please
contact the below directly for reservations:

PES School of Engineering (PESSE)
CAMPUS IV
Hosur Road (1km before Electronic City)
Bangalore - 560 100
Phone: 080-66186611 or 0-9972477775
http://www.pes.edu/

In case you face difficulty in contacting them, you may send a mail to
vdat@... with your Name, Designation, Organization, full contact
details and phone number. Please use VDAT2009 PESSE in the subject line. We will
forward your request to the concerned from the institute.

Regards,

C.P. Ravikumar

13th IEEE / VSI VLSI Design and Test Symposium

July 8-9, 2009

Keynote Talks at VDAT 2009

Venue - Wipro Learning Center (EC Phase 4, Tower 20)

Room - Flint

Keynote Talk-1 (July 9, 2009 - 9.00 AM)

From emerging to emerged economy: Need for a Technology Infrastructure in India

Speaker: Dr. Biswadip Mitra (President and MD, Texas Instruments India)

Keynote Talk-2 (July 9, 2009 - 10.00 AM)

Speaker: V.R.Venkatesh (Sr. Vice President - Product Engineering Services, Wipro Technologies)

Dear Colleague,

VDAT 2009 was held successfully during August 8-10, 2009. Four tutorials were
held on August 8th. This year, we introduced new topics such as Telemedicine and
Embedded Systems in our tutorial programs. The VDAT 2009 symposium was held
during Aug 9-10, 2009. The Symposium was inaugurated by Dr.Bobby Mitra,
President and Managing Director of Texas Instruments, Mr. V.R. Venkatesh Senior
Vice President of Product Engineering Services, Wipro, Dr. A. Rajarao of IEEE
Bangalore, Brig. Grewal, Dean, Chitkara University, and Prof. Vishwani Agrawal,
Auburn University.

Dr. C.P. Ravikumar, General Chair, welcomed the gathering and mentioned the
significance of VDAT 2009. VDAT 2009 is the thirteenth event in the series and
attracts both industry and academia is roughly equal numbers. This was also
evident when a show of hands was requested by industry participants and
participants from academia. VDAT 2009 has served as a forum for both Indian
academia and Indian semiconductor industry to showcase their achievements, to
interact, learn and collaborate.

Dr. Bobby Mitra and Mr. V.R. Venkatesh delivered keynote talks as part of the
inaugral function. Bobby Mitra's talk was entitled "From emerging to emerged
economy: Need for a Technology Infrastructure in India." He  spoke about new
areas of growth such as medical electronics, energy, and education. He also
underlined the need for pathbreaking Indian research in these emerging areas. He
felt that there is an urgent need to seed at least 100 Ph.D.s in these areas.
Mr. Venkatesh's talk was entitled "Embedded Systems : Growing complexity and
augmented role of software." He spoke about the challenges and opportunities in
Embedded Software, which is a major growth area for India, promising many jobs.
Both keynote speakers had a lively interaction with the audience in a Q&A
session.

Mr. Raja Rao spoke about IEEE. Brig. Grewal informed the audience about VDAT
2010 which will be held in Chandigarh at Chitkara University campus. A Call for
Papers for VDAT 2010 will become available soon.

Dr. Sunit Tyagi, the founding CEO of InSolare Energy Private Limited,  delivered
a keynote talk on Aug 10th on the topic of "Need for Energy Efficiency and Smart
grids: Role of Semiconductors in future."  A lively Q&A session followed the
talk.

VDAT 2009 featured over 40 peer-reviewed paper presentations during Aug 9-10,
2009. A panel discussion was held on the topic of creating Ph.D.s in VLSI and
Embedded Systems. The panelists were Dr. M. Balakrishnan, Dr. N.S. Murthy, Dr.
N.R. Ramesh, and Dr. C.P. Ravikumar, who also moderated the panel. The panel
discussion generated a great deal of energy and many constructive suggestions on
how to generate more Ph.D. in the country in these advanced areas.

An informal meeting organized by the VLSI Society of India with faculty members
from academic institutions generated an excellent  response. Many industry
leaders took part in the meeting and interacted with the faculty members and
discussed topics such as (a) Student internships (b) Faculty internships (c)
Campus hiring, (d) How the industry can help the academia.

A Research Scholar forum was held to encourage early dissemination of work from
research scholars working in the area of VLSI/Embedded Systems. The scholars had
an opportunity to get early feedback on their work.

Some of the highlights of VDAT 2009 were the following:

  * Over 200 participants took part in the Symposium
  * Strong peer-review process for the submitted papers - most papers had 4+
reviews
  * All the papers were presented (ZERO "no-shows")
  * Several short tutorials were held as part of the symposium
  * All sessions were well attended, with excellent interactions
  * Excellent interactions among students, faculty, and industry leaders during
breaks
  * Hardcopies will be sent to the registered participants after the event
(October).

A large number of people helped to make VDAT 2009 a success.  The members of the
technical program committee and the team of reviewers made it possible to get
excellent reviews for the papers in time. Santhosh Madathil and A. Vasudevan of
Wipro were particularly helpful in the local organization.  Corporate sponsors
made it possible to offer reduced registration fees to students and faculty. Mr.
Gopal Naidu's contribution as treasurer of VSI and finance chair of VDAT 2009
has been invaluable. Volunteers from Wipro, Basaveshwara Engineering College
(Bagalkot), BVB Engineering College (Hubli) and ICFAI Tech (Hyderabad) helped in
all aspects of local arrangements.  Many others have helped at various stages of
the conference and it will be difficult to name everyone - thanks to everyone
who has been supportive of VDAT!

The feedback for the conference from the participants has been very encouraging.
We have summarized them at
http://vlsi-india.org/vsi/photos/vdat09_blr/feedback.html

The photographs taken on Aug 9th and 10th are summarized at
http://vlsi-india.org/vsi/photos/vdat09_blr/


VDAT 2010 will be held in Chandigarh.  We request the authors to start preparing
their manuscripts - the formal announcement will follow! We also invite
suggestions for VDAT 2010 - these can be sent to ravikumar@...

Regards

C.P. Ravikumar

Enter your vote today!  A new poll has been created for the
vdat group:

We are conducting a survey to get some statistics related to Ph.D. in
VLSI/allied areas in India

   o I have a Ph.D. in VLSI area from IISc/IIT.
   o I have a Ph.D. in VLSI area from an Indian University (other than IISc/IIT).
   o I have a Ph.D. in VLSI area from a foreign University.
   o I have a Ph.D. in a related area from IISc/IIT.
   o I have a Ph.D. in a related area from an Indian University.
   o I have a Ph.D. in a related area from a foreign University.
   o I  am currently enrolled for a Ph.D. in VLSI/allied area in IISc/IIT.
   o I am currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program in VLSI/allied area in an Indian
University.
   o None of the above, but interested in doing a Ph.D. in India in the next 5
years.
   o None of the above, not interested in Ph.D.


To vote, please visit the following web page:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vdat/surveys?id=2900480

Note: Please do not reply to this message. Poll votes are
not collected via email. To vote, you must go to the Yahoo! Groups
web site listed above.

Thanks!

Dear All,

We have announced a poll on topic of "Indian Ph.D. in VLSI/allied areas." So
far, 154 responses have been received. We would like to hear from the rest of
you. There is only one question and you have to select only one response -
should not take more than 1 minute of your time :-) We are mainly looking for
responses from Indian nationals.

If you have not responded to any of the other polls conducted by VSI before, you
can use this opportunity to do so. Please go to

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/vdat/polls


Regards

Ravikumar

Responses to VSI Survey on Ph.D. (229 responses as of Oct 2, 2009)

If you have not had a chance to respond to the survey yet, please vote at

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/vdat/polls

Our survey was targeted at finding out the number of people who are interested in pursuing their Ph.D. in India

Ph.D. from IISc/IIT

12 persons said they have a Ph.D. in the VLSI area from IISc/IIT; 6 persons have a Ph.D. in a related area from IISc/IIT. Presently, 19 persons are enrolled in IISc/IIT for a Ph.D. in VLSI/allied area.

Indian Ph.D. from Non-IISc/IIT

19 persons have a Ph.D. from an Indian institution other than IISc/IIT; 4 others have a Ph.D. in a related area from an Indian institution other than IISc/IIT. Presently, 46 persons are enrolled in other institutions for a Ph.D. in VLSI/allied areas.

Foreign Universities

8 persons have a Ph.D. in VLSI area from a foreign University;  5 others have a Ph.D. in a related area from a foreign University.

Interested in Ph.D. Programs in VLSI/allied areas

95 persons are interested in enrolling for Ph.D. in VLSI/allied areas in the next 5 years. Our survey did not ask how many of them wish to enroll in Indian Ph.D. programs. We will be happy to hear from these prospective candidates who wish to pursue their Ph.D. in India.  Our intention is to be able to archive this data for prospective supervisors to examine the data.  Please write a note to ravikumar@... with the subject line "Interested in Indian Ph.D. in VLSI/allied areas".

Regards

C.P. Ravikumar

Dear All,

1. The hardcopy proceedings of VDAT 2009 are now available. They are published
by Elite Publishers in New Delhi. Those of you who wish to purchase the
proceedings can write to vsisecy@... for details.

2. If you have not done so already, please renew your membership to VSI. Members
receive regular newsletters and information about events taking place in India.
If you are a member already and are not receiving these updates, please write to
vsisecy@... giving your membership number.

3. The registrations for VLSI 2010 (January 2010, Bangalore) are open.
Information about VLSI 2010 has been sent to members in the recent newsletter.
Here is the link for registration:
http://vlsiconference.com/vlsi2010/registration.html

Please contact the sponsorship and exhibit chairs for sponsorship and exhibit
opportunities at the conference.


4. VDAT 2010 is planned in Chandigarh in July 2010. Details will be announced on
our website by December 2009. This is a three-day event including tutorials,
technical paper presentations, invited talks, keynote talks, and panel
discussions. Please plan your submissions to VDAT 2010.  If members have
specific requests for tutorial topics, they may write to me with their
suggestions.

5. We have formed an e-mail list of the persons who expressed interest in
pursuing Ph.D. in India in the next few years. Presently, we are sending
event/technology updates to the members of the group. I will request Indian
faculty members interested in guiding Ph.D. in VLSI/Embedded Systems to join the
mailing list. The resume of the interested candidates will be made available to
the interested faculty members. Any suggestions in this regard are welcome.

With Regards


C.P. Ravikumar

Dear All,

A panel discussion on the above topic was held on Nov 18 as part of CDNLive!
symposium held in Bangalore.

Blogger Pradeep Chakraborty has been kind to capture the proceedings of the
panel in his blog:

http://pradeepchakraborty.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/what-does-it-take-for-student\
s-to-be-semiconductor-industry-ready/

We will be happy to receive your comments. I am sure Pradeep will appreciate
your mails as well!


Regards

C.P. Ravikumar