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Working with our membership, ITAC establishes and sets targets for where Canada's knowledge economy should be compared to key peer/competitor nations. Where we fall short, ITAC determines what we need to do to get there and ensure we do what is needed in areas such as: skills, capital, tax, science & technology, and collaboration.
ITAC believes Canadian businesses should be leaders in the use of ICT for competitive advantage, productivity and growth. Use of ICT by small and medium enterprises should increase towards that of our US counterparts. By partnering with other associations, as well as with Government, we work to ensure public policy supports these goals.
ITAC strives to ensure Federal, Ontario and other Canadian Governments are leaders in ICT use. ITAC positions itself as a trusted advisor to Government. We gather industry leaders and Government together and work to make it easier for our industry to sell to government.
ITAC believes the Canadian healthcare system should be a world-leading user of ICT to achieve superior patient outcomes and cost-effectiveness, as well as fostering development of a world-leading Canadian health ICT industry. ITAC works to correct chronic under-spend on ICT.
ITAC’s view is Canada’s laws should promote leadership in development and use of advanced technology. We want to ensure efficient and cost-effective measures to protect privacy and instill confidence in the e-economy.
ITAC believes that in order for Canada to continue to compete worldwide, we need to promote policies that will ensure a steady supply of talented men and women for our local ICT industry. We work with industry as well as with Federal, Provincial and local governments to establish initiatives to support this goal.
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ITAC Gallery of Outstanding Service to the Canadian Microelectronics Industry
Outstanding Service Award - Selection Guidelines
Past Recipients
- 2012 - Gordon Harling and Doug Pincock
- 2011 - Jim Haslett and Kirk Mandy
- 2010 - Adel Sedra and K.C. Smith
- 2009 - Dr. Graham Jullien
- 2008 - Greg Aasen and Savvas Chamberlain
- 2007 - Bill Miller and Dr. Doug Smeaton
- 2006 - Ian McWalter and C. Andre T. Salama
- 2005 - Alan Aitken
- 2004 - Denis Colbourne and Adam Chowaniec
- 2003 - Tony Marsh and Tony Stansby
- 2002 - Doug Barber and Andy Molozzi
- 2001- John Elliott and Dick Foss
- 2000 - Roy Boothroyd and Doug Colton
- 1999 - Rudi Kriegler and George Logan
18th Executive Forum on Microelectronics
Outstanding Service Award
For Presentation on Thursday, October 11, 2012
Gordon Harling
Through most of the 1980's, our second award winner worked in Mitel's semiconductor fabrication facility in Bromont, first as a product and test engineer and later as Director of Integrated Circuit Process R&D. In the 1990's he started his own integrated circuit design house, Goal Semiconductor, which was first self-funded, and then raised over $11M from VCs and strategic investors to develop proprietary IC products. Goal Semiconductor was successfully sold to Ramtron in 2005.
Meanwhile, in 2001 our award winner co-founded Elliptic Semiconductor in Ottawa and raised over $3.7M to create semiconductor Intellectual Property for secure communications which is continuing to do well.
Along the way, he worked with dozens of start-ups as a member of the management team, Board of Directors, Board of Advisors or as a 'due diligence' investigator for Venture Capital investors and through his generous investment of time and energy, the microelectronics communities in both Montreal and Ottawa are much richer for it.
More recently, our award winner has been asked to participate in many small, very entrepreneurial opportunities and he is now very happy to help start-ups in his current mandate at Sherbrooke Innopole.
18th Executive Forum on Microelectronics
Outstanding Service Award
For Presentation on Thursday, October 11, 2012
Doug Pincock
In 1981, Doug founded AMIRIX Systems Inc. and served as President and CEO until 2000 when he stepped aside to focus on the technology direction of the company. Prior to AMIRIX, he spent 3 years as a pilot in the RCAF and 12 years as a professor of Electrical Engineering at TUNS, UNB, the University of Paris and St. FX. While at UNB, Doug and his research team developed innovative technology in underwater acoustic telemetry. VEMCO Limited, a leading supplier of acoustic telemetry equipment whose products are sold worldwide, is a direct spin-off of this research. In a 2003 acquisition, VEMCO became a product division of AMIRIX.
Doug has served on a number of Boards including CMC, SamSys and Vemco. He has advised the Canadian Intellectual Property Organization Advisory Board and the Nova Scotia Council on Applied Science and Technology. Doug is currently Chairman of the Board at AMIRIX and is also Chairman for the Sable Island Preservation Trust. In 1998, he received the CATA Alliance's National Award of Distinction in private sector leadership, and was named one of Atlantic Canada's Top CEOs in 2000. In 2001, Doug formed the AMIRX MS Bike Tour Team which, over a five year period, raised more than $30,000 for MS research.
Doug retired from full time employment at AMIRIX in 2005 but continues to assist the company in areas such as product planning and educational and research materials.
17th Executive Forum on Microelectronics
Outstanding Service Award
For Presentation on Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Jim Haslett
Our first recipient is holds the position of “Faculty Professor” in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, within the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary. He has been an academic staff member at the University of Calgary since 1970, and was the Head of the department from 1986 to 1997. He has been President of his own engineering consulting firm since 1981.
He is a Life Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers , a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He has won 24 national and international awards for his research work and he has published over 200 papers in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. He has prepared over 40 technical reports to industry and holds 12 patents. He has graduated over 40 Masters and Doctorate students, and has supervised 27 Post Doctoral Fellows and Research Associates over the course of his career - so far!
He has carried out research for the past 41 years in areas of: analog and digital microelectronic circuit design for high temperature oil field instrumentation; satellite instrumentation; and, more recently, he held the TRLabs/iCORE/NSERC Senior Industrial Research Chair in Wireless Communications, building a team of researchers specializing in radio frequency integrated circuit design for wireless communications applications.
Our Award Winner is currently the Director of the Advanced Micro/nanosystems Integration Facility Chair Program at the University of Calgary, originally established by Dr. Graham Jullien, also a recipient of this award in 2009.
His numerous service activities have included memberships on the Board of Directors of the Alberta Microelectronics Centre (which became Micralyne); the Canadian Microelectronics Corporation (now CMC Microsystems); the Institute for Space Imaging Science; and the Institute for Quantum Information Science. He reviews extensively for the IEEE, other journals and conferences, and is a member of several international conference committees. He was an Associate Editor of the Canadian Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering from 2001 to 2004 and has been a member, for the past 9 years, of the Alberta Innovates Technology Futures, Internal Review Committee for establishing new Research Chair programs in the province of Alberta.
So it is with great pleasure this evening that we present the 2011 Outstanding Service Award to… Dr. Jim Haslett!
17th Executive Forum on Microelectronics
Outstanding Service Award
For Presentation on Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Kirk Mandy
From 1978 to 1984, our second recipient held various technical positions with: GTE Automatic Electric; Gandalf Data Communications; and Bynamics Corp.
Then, over a distinguished career with Mitel Corporation spanning 15 years, he held increasingly senior roles, culminating with his appointment as President and CEO, a position he held from 1998 to 2001.
He then served as Vice-Chairman of Zarlink's Board of Directors from July 2001 to February 2005, relinquishing that position upon his appointment as President and CEO, a position from which he just retired in May of this year.
Our award recipient is a member of the Board of Epocal and Chairman of the Armstrong Monitoring Corporation. He has served on the Board of Directors of: Mitel Corporation; Photowatt; the Strategic Microelectronics Corporation; the Canadian Advanced Technology Association; the Canadian Microelectronics Corp.; the Ottawa Center for Research and Innovation; and Micronet. He is also: past Chairman of the Telecommunications Research Center of Ontario; past Co-Chairman of the National Research Council's Innovation Forum, and past Co-Chairman of the Ottawa Partnership.
So, it is with great pleasure this evening that we present the 2011 Outstanding Service Award to Kirk Mandy.
16th Executive Forum on Microelectronics
Outstanding Service Award
For Presentation on Wednesday, October 5, 2010
Adel Sedra
A proud Canadian of Egyptian heritage, born in 1943, Adel Sedra received the B.Sc. degree from Cairo University, in 1964, and the M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Toronto, Canada, in 1968 and 1969 respectively, all in Electrical Engineering. Dr. Sedra can be characterized as a world class scholar and a humanitarian.
Dr. Sedra joined the faculty of the University of Toronto in 1969, rising to the rank of Professor in 1978. During 1986-1993, he served as Chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering (now Electrical and Computer Engineering). On July 1, 1993 he assumed the position of Vice-President, Provost, and Chief Academic Officer of the University of Toronto and served in this capacity for nine years, leading the University through two major long-range planning cycles, in 1994 and 1998. On July 1, 2003, Prof. Sedra joined the University of Waterloo as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. In 2004 he initiated the University of Waterloo Engineering Planning Exercise, VISION 2010.
As Provost of the University of Toronto for nine years, Dr. Sedra's leadership was instrumental in making U of T thrive during a period of severe financial constraint. He led the academic planning process that drove the University's billion-dollar fundraising campaign. It is widely believed that this was a golden era in the history of the University of Toronto and has resulted in its current status as one of the world's leading research universities. The University of Toronto acknowledged Sedra's contributions by awarding him an honorary doctor of law degree in 2005.
During the past seven years, under Dean Sedra's leadership, the University of Waterloo's Faculty of Engineering has experienced a period of unprecedented growth: New undergraduate programs have been introduced, including Canada's first freestanding program in nanotechnology engineering; both enrolment of graduate students and external funding of research have nearly doubled; new multidisciplinary research institutes have been established in such areas as automotive engineering, green energy, and nanotechnology. Waterloo Engineering is well on its way to becoming one of the leading engineering schools in the world. Professor Sedra specializes in the area of microelectronics. His research has centered on the theory and design of circuits for communication and instrumentation systems and has resulted in about one hundred and fifty papers. He has guided the research of about sixty-five graduate students, many of whom went on to leadership roles in industry and academia. He was elected Fellow of a number of learned societies: The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (1984), The Canadian Academy of Engineering (1999), The Royal Society of Canada (2003).
Professor Sedra has co-authored three textbooks. One of his books, Microelectronic Circuits, now in its sixth edition (2010) and in ten languages, is in use in hundreds of universities around the world. When it first appeared in 1982, Microelectronic Circuits established a new approach for the teaching of this important enabling technology. The book became an instant success and has endured as the premier textbook for its subject for nearly thirty years. In 2008, Oxford University Press announced that one million copies of Microelectronic Circuits were in print. It is fair to say that Adel Sedra has made a tremendous contribution to the education of many generations of electronics engineers whose work in turn has revolutionized almost every area of our life, from wireless communications to medical instrumentation.
Sedra's contribution to the education of electrical engineers has been recognized by many awards including the prestigious Education Medal of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Adel Sedra received this singular honour in 1996 and was the first Canadian working in Canada to be so honoured. Dr. Sedra has served as a consultant to industry and governments in Canada and the U.S.A. He was a founding member and served on the board of directors of the Information Technology Research Centre, a designated centre-of-excellence funded by the Province of Ontario (now part of OCE). From 1990-1994 he was a member of the Scientific Assessment Panel for the Industry Research Program of Technology Ontario, and since 1995 has been a member of the Research Council of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR). He served as a delegate to Oxford University Press (1995-2008) and is currently editing the Oxford Electrical and Computer Engineering Series. More recently, he chaired a Committee that devised a new Structure for the NSERC Grant Selection Committees. Since 2008, Adel Sedra has served as a Director of DALSA Corporation.
Dr. Sedra=s research and educational activities have won him a number of awards, including the 1988 Frederick Emmon=s Terman Award from the American Society for Engineering Education, the Third Millennium Medal of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the 2002 Award of Excellence of Ontario Professional Engineers, and the 2002 Alumni Medal of the University of Toronto Engineering Alumni Association. In 2003 Queen's University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Science degree and in 2007 he received a Doctor of Science degree (honoris causa) from McGill University.
16th Executive Forum on Microelectronics
Outstanding Service Award
For Presentation on Wednesday, October 5, 2010
K.C. Smith
K.C. Smith obtained his BASc in Engineering Science in 1954, his MASc in Electrical Engineering in 1956, and his PhD in Physics in 1960, all at the University of Toronto. During the academic year 1960-61 he held the post of Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Toronto. In 1961 he joined the University of Illinois, Urbana, as a Research Assistant Professor, reaching the rank of Associate Professor in 1965. That year, he re-joined the University of Toronto, where he was appointed to the rank of Full Professor in 1970, and served as the Chairman of the Department of Electrical Engineering from 1976 to 1981. Upon retirement in 1997 as Professor Emeritus, he was a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, of Computer Science, of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, and of Information Sciences. For the period 1993 to 1998, he served part-time as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology where he was the Founding Director of Computer Engineering. As well, he is an Advisory Professor at the Shanghai Tiedao University.
K.C. Smith has extensive industrial experience in the design and application of computers, medical instrumentation, and electronic circuits generally, as instigator, director, manager, designer, and consultant. His interests include analog VLSI, multiple-valued logic, sensor systems, instrumentation, human-factors engineering, computer music, manufacturing engineering, and reliability. He is widely published in these and other areas, with well over 200 journal and proceedings papers, books, and book contributions. The book "Microelectronic Circuits" by Sedra and Smith, originally published in 1982, and now in its Sixth Edition, published in 2010 by Oxford University Press, has been translated into many languages, and adopted by many many hundreds of universities around the world. In 2008, it reached its one millionth sale, with 80% of its market*.
Amongst his numerous affiliations with professional associations, is his former directorship and presidency of the Canadian Society for Professional Engineers. As well, he has held a variety of posts in Societies of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), most notably and currently on the Executive Committee of the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), as Press/Publicity Chair and as Awards/Recognition Chair. He was elected Fellow of the IEEE in 1978 for "Contributions to Digital Circuit Design," and made Life Fellow of the IEEE in 1996.
He was a founding member of Z-Tech (Canada), a Toronto-based medical instrumentation company, for which he served in an advisory capacity as Principal Scientist on breast-cancer screening instrumentation. In this role, several patents were applied for and granted.
*As noted in the 2009 Winter Issue of the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine, which is devoted to "prioritize education":
"…To truly understand the significance of this feat, it is important to note that Canada only graduates about 11,500 Engineers and the entire world only one million Engineers per year. Since being published in 1982, Microelectronic Circuits has been officially translated into nine languages and is used in hundreds of universities around the world. Today, eight out of 10 students worldwide use this book in their third (and other) years of Electrical Engineering studies. This leading textbook sets the standard in excellence and innovation, and remains the most current resource for teaching tomorrow's Engineers how to analyze and design electronic circuits."
15th Executive Forum on Microelectronics
Outstanding Service Award
Dr. Graham Jullien
This year’s recipient began his hi-tech career as a Student Apprentice with English Electric Computers in 1961 and received his Bachelor of Technology degree from Loughborough in the UK in 1965. He followed this with an M. Sc. from Birmingham in 1967 and a Ph. D. from Aston in 1969.
He then joined what in the UK was called the “Brain Drain” but here in Canada, was called the “Brain Gain” by becoming a full Professor at the University of Windsor in 1978.
By the mid 80’s his interests had focused on semiconductors, in the relatively new field of Very Large Scale Integration and he was appointed as Director of the VLSI Research Group at the University of Windsor where he remained until, in 2001, he made the move to the University of Calgary where he became the iCORE Research Chair for the next 7 years.
This year’s recipient is a Registered Professional Engineer in both Ontario and Alberta and has taken leadership roles as:
- co-founder of the Signals and Systems Laboratory and the VLSI Research Group at the University of Windsor;
- a founding members of the Micronet Network of Centres of Excellence;
- a founder of the Advanced Technology Information Processing Systems Laboratories and a Founding member of the Advanced Micro-nano Integration Facility at the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary;
- a Founding member of Neurosilicon Inc.;
- a Life-Fellow of the IEEE; and
- a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada!
He has also contributed as a Board member of:
- the Industrial Research Institute of the University of Windsor;
- CMC Microsystems (in various capacities);
- DALSA Corporation;
- Micronet; and
- Neurosilicon Inc.
He is currently an Advisory Board member for:
- PackagingOne Corporation of Waterloo, Ontario; and
- ACM Inc. of Calgary.
This year’s recipient was a Member of the Microelectronics and Telecommunications Panel for the Texas Advanced Technology and Research Program based in Austin.
He has represented the Canadian Microelectronics industry on the Federal Ministry of Industry’s Task force and was awarded an iCORE Chair in “Advanced Technology Information Processing Systems” at the University of Calgary.
In addition to consulting to various national and international corporations, since 1980, he has raised over $15 million in University funding.
In all, his career has been marked by significant contributions to both industry and academia and it is with great pleasure this evening that we present the 2009 Outstanding Service Award to Dr. Graham Jullien.
14th Executive Forum on Microelectronics
Outstanding Service Award
For Presentation on Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Greg Aasen
Greg Aasen was the founder and the chief strategy officer at PMC-Sierra up to June 2007. Previously he was vice president and general manager of the Communications Products Division. Prior to that, Mr. Aasen was chief operating officer and chief technology officer of the Company.
Bringing over 20 years of experience to the semiconductor industry, Mr. Aasen began his career at Mitel where he held both product and design engineering positions. In 1986, he joined MPR Teltech and later established the Pacific Microelectronic Centre (PMC), MPR Teltech’s first business division. In 1992, Mr. Aasen's vision was realized when PMC-Sierra was spun-out from MPR Teltech through an investment from Sierra Semiconductor.
In addition to Sierra Wireless, Mr. Aasen currently serves on the Board of Directors for Sutus Corporation and the B.C. Innovation Council.
In June 2000, Mr. Aasen was named “Person of the Year” by the B.C. Technology Industries Association. He was awarded “Entrepreneur of the Year” in BC from Ernst & Young in 1996. Mr. Aasen received a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of British Columbia in 1979.
14th Executive Forum on Microelectronics
Outstanding Service Award
For Presentation on Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Savvas Chamberlain
Dr. Savvas Chamberlain founded DALSA in 1980. He was the CEO from its inception until August 2007. Presently at DALSA, he is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Chairman of the board of Directors.
Under his leadership DALSA has grown world wide from few employees to more than 1000 employees worldwide with revenues of $186 million in 2006. During his tenure as CEO he was responsible for corporate strategy, strategic technology direction, long-term planning, and setting the direction of the company’s culture.
Dr. Savvas Chamberlain can be characterized as a scientist, academic, inventor and entrepreneur. He is a pioneer of CCD technology and MOSFET image sensors - core technology competencies from which DALSA's imaging products are based. Combining academic and applied work in his career, Dr. Chamberlain has built DALSA into a world leader of image sensors and digital imaging cameras.
Born in Dhikomo, Cyprus, Dr. Chamberlain pursued his university studies in England. He was educated in England, he obtained his first degree from Northern Polytechnic in London, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Southampton University, U.K.
He is highly regarded as a pioneer in the field of digital imaging. He has published more than 150 papers in scientific journals in the area of CCDs, MOSFET’s and silicon semiconductor devices and has authored and co-authored more than 20 patents.
Dr. Chamberlain moved with his family to Waterloo, Ontario Canada in 1969 as an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Waterloo. During a leave from the university in 1971-1972 he pioneered the technology of NMOS and CCD Fabrication while at Bell Northern Research, the research center of Nortel at the time. In 1974-1975, and again in 1981-1982 he was on leave from the university where he joined the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in New York for a year at a time as a Visiting Scientist. He remained as a consultant with IBM specializing in scanners, photodetectors, CCDs and integrated circuits. At the university he continued his research on VLSI MOSFETs and CCD image sensors. In 1977 he was promoted to Full Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of the University of Waterloo. Dr. Chamberlain continues his association with the University of Waterloo as a Distinguished Professor Emeritus.
On the business side, in 1994 Dr. Chamberlain attended the Harvard University Graduate School of Business and completed the Owner/ President Management Program. In 1998 he returned to the Harvard University Graduate School of Business for the Business-to-Business Marketing Program.
In 1980 Dr. Chamberlain used his extensive knowledge of CCD image sensors to found DALSA. DALSA is a spin-off from the University of Waterloo. Under Dr. Chamberlain's guidance DALSA has grown from a small consulting firm specializing in CCD sensors to a global leader in digital imaging solutions technology spanning CCD and CMOS image sensors. Since the company was established Dr. Chamberlain has been an integral part in the direction of the research and development conducted by DALSA. In 1996, he led DALSA through its IPO.
During his career, Dr. Chamberlain has written over 150 papers for refereed scientific journals and conference proceedings, holds 20 patents, and has contributed original research to textbooks on fundamental theory in his field. He has chaired the NSERC Operating Research Grants Committee and helped establish the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Custom Integrated Circuits Conference. He twice organized the IEEE CCD and CMOS Imaging Workshop. He was also the guest editor for the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices and IEEE Journal of Solid State Circuits.
Dr. Chamberlain has been recognized and received numerous awards and honors for his work. In 1991, he was elected Fellow of the IEEE for his pioneering work in MOSFETs and CCD image sensor technology. Between 1991 and 1994, he held the NCR Microelectronics Fellowship. In 1993 he received the ITAC/ NSERC award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to academic research in information technology. In 1999, he was awarded the position of Distinguished Professor Emeritus for his 25-year contribution to the University of Waterloo. He received the Ernst & Young 2003 Ontario Entrepreneur of the Year award for the Technology and Communications industry segment, and in 2004 was awarded the Automated Imaging Association Life Time Achievement Award for World Industry Leadership in imaging. In 2007 Dr. Chamberlain accepted the Premier’s Catalyst Award for Lifetime Achievement in Innovation from Ontario Premier and Minister of Research and Innovation Dalton McGuinty at the inaugural Premier's Innovation Awards. Dr. Chamberlain also received in June 2007 an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from the University of Waterloo. In July 2008 he was inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.
Dr. Savvas Chamberlain, is a proud Canadian and makes his home in Waterloo, Ontario, and treasures his Greek Cypriot heritage. He has three children and four grandchildren. He enjoys, with his wife, outdoor pursuits - walking, hiking, respects nature, and likes gardening. He loves classical music, books, reading, live theatre and opera, Greek literature, on his iPod has more than 500 Greek songs.
13th Executive Forum on Microelectronics
Outstanding Service Award
For Presentation on Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Bill Miller
The first recipient for our Outstanding Service Award this evening, bought his first transistor in 1953 (a Raytheon CK722) and became hooked on Electronics. He received degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Universities of Michigan and Waterloo then obtained his Ph.D. from Waterloo.
His first “good” job was as an electronics technologist with Avro Aircraft Limited in Malton, Ontario where he worked on the Avro Arrow’s Telemetry Package until September 1958. He became a Professional Engineer in Ontario in 1962, has been an IEEE member since its formation in 1963, and is a member of the Institute of Radio Engineers.
He joined the University of Windsor in September 1968 as an Assistant Professor in Electrical Engineering and has served as Department Head and Director of the Research Centre for Integrated Microsystems. In 1969 he received an award from the National Science Foundation (USA) to work with the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas for four months during the launch of Apollo 11 for the first moon landing. Together with his colleague, Graham Jullien, he had their first VLSI Systolic Array Processor implemented in 3-μm CMOS through CMC in January 1988. He received his “deluxe NCE tie” from the Minister of State for Science and Technology at the October 1989 meeting in Ottawa announcing that MICRONET (and 13 other networks) would be established under the NCE program - and he still wears it on special occasions. He received, together with his colleagues, an NSERC and Conference Board of Canada University-Industry Synergy Award in October 1999.
He has received over $16,000,000 dollars in research funding during his career and in 2004 received an award recognizing 25 years of continuous discovery research support from NSERC. He also holds a number of U.S. Patents, including one for the first polyurethane barrier specifically designed to stop the transmission of the AIDS virus.
He has over 280 refereed publications, starting in March 1963, through to his most recent publication just last month in the IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems.
He has served as a judge for many science fairs and robotics competitions and has served as the University of Windsor’s Member Representative for MICRONET. He is also a long-time member of CMC’s Board of Directors, where he has served as Vice-Chairman and also Chair of the Governance Committee.
He has supervised 53 Graduate Students, some of whom have won “best student paper awards”, including those from MICRONET and the SMC Industrial Collaboration Award from CMC and he currently holds an appointment at Windsor, as a Professor Emeritus! And one of his first Ph.D. graduates had the distinction of hosting the Inaugural Ball for George W. Bush’s initial term as President of the United States, at the Washington Hilton on January 20, 2001.
It is a career of great accomplishment and ITAC is extremely proud to present our Outstanding Service Award for 2007 to Bill Miller.
13th Executive Forum on Microelectronics
Outstanding Service Award
For Presentation on Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Dr. Doug Smeaton
Our second recipient received his B.Sc. in honors Physics from the University of Alberta, his M.Sc. in Solid State Physics from Simon Fraser University and he graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Ph.D. in Solid State Physics.
He rapidly rose through the ranks to become Senior Vice President and General Manager of Mitel Semiconductor (now Zarlink Semiconductor), President and CEO of Anatek Electronics and, finally, joined Semiconductor Insights in 1992, where he led a management buyout from its US owners in 1994, then grew the company from fewer than 18 to over 155 people.
This deserving individual was an extremely generous man, always giving his time and energy to his employees and to the larger high tech community. As an individual, he made significant contributions as a business leader; trusted adviser, and he participated on the Board of Directors of numerous technology companies, including: Skystone (acquired by Cisco); Philsar (acquired by Conexant); Sybarus (acquired by Lucent); SiGem (now Mobile Knowledge); SiGe Semiconductor; Triant Technologies (listed as TNT on the TSX); MuAnalysis; and Symagery Microsystems (acquired by Psion Teklogix), a company which he had founded in 1997.
He was the founding Chairman of the Division of Industrial & Applied Physics of the Canadian Association of Physicists and, of special significance to our Microelectronics community, he actively supported collaborative efforts to improve the competitiveness of our industry and to increase its impact on the Canadian economy by serving on the Board of the Canadian Advanced Technology Association and being a founding Director of the Strategic Microelectronics Consortium, now the Strategic Microelectronics Council of ITAC.
Earlier this year, on Sunday February 18th, the microelectronics industry in Canada lost one of its elder statesmen and a pioneer of semiconductor technology who tirelessly gave back to the community he helped to build - Doug Smeaton passed away doing one of the things he loved most: scuba diving. Doug was a passionate man and never did anything ‘half way’. The three most important things in his life were his family, his company, and his diving, where he was a highly experienced deep-water diver, traveling around the globe to dive in such wonderful, diverse places as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the Red Sea, the Sea of Japan, and even Lake Superior.
While he was thoughtful, quiet and reflective in nature, his many colleagues, both young and old, valued his experience and the generous encouragement he gave them to strive for even greater achievements. He led by example and taught others how to make a difference.
It was a career of great accomplishment and ITAC is extremely proud to present our Outstanding Service Award for 2007 to the late Dr. Doug Smeaton.
12th Executive Forum on Microelectronics
Outstanding Service Award
For Presentation on Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Ian McWalter
Our recipient received his B.Sc. (Honours) Physics in 1972, his D.I.C. (Diploma of Imperial College) Electrical Engineering in 1975, and his Ph.D. Electrical Engineering in 1976 from the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London, England.
He was employed with Bell Northern Research from 1978 to 1991 in a variety of management positions with a strong focus on design and development. During the period 1988 - 1991, he was the Director of Semiconductor Design, and managed a staff of approximately 250 software and hardware developers in all areas of design automation and integrated circuit design for telecommunications products.
In September, 1991, he joined Gennum Corporation as Vice-President, Research & Development with responsibility for all aspects of R&D within the company, including product development, silicon technology development, packaging development and computer-aided design. In April, 1994, our recipient was appointed Vice-President, Manufacturing Operations, responsible for Silicon Wafer Fabrication, Assembly, Hybrid Manufacturing and Product Test. In July, 1997, he was promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the company. In April 2000, he was again promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer.
Outside of his dedicated corporate work, the university research community benefited from his leadership role as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Microelectronics Corporation (CMC).
He also served the industry as treasurer and a member of the Board of Directors of Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC). And, his community benefited from his leadership as a member of the Board of Directors of the Burlington Economic Development Corporation (BEDC).
His deep experience and many industry accomplishments have not gone unnoticed particularly by other companies.
One in particular, Toumaz, a microelectronics company in Great Britain, recently appointed him their new CEO. At Toumaz, he is focusing on accelerating the commercialization of Toumaz’s proprietary AMx™ advanced mixed signal technology within its key healthcare and consumer electronic markets.
Notwithstanding these professional commitments, He still finds time to act as a reviewer of research grant applications for the National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). Of course, he is widely published and has authored a number of papers on circuits and silicon design.
As you can tell from these brief remarks, it is a career filled with distinction and accomplishment – and there is still more to come from this remarkable individual who has been such an asset to Canada, our industry, his profession and his community.
Would you please join me in welcoming the recipient of our 2006 Outstanding Service Award – Dr. Ian McWalter.
12th Executive Forum on Microelectronics
Outstanding Service Award
For Presentation on Wednesday, November 29, 2006
C. Andre T. Salama
Our second recipient of the Outstanding Service Award received his Honours B.A.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of British Columbia in 1961, his M.A.Sc. degree in 1962 and the Ph.D. in 1966. The following year he joined the faculty of the University of Toronto and in 1977 was promoted to the rank of full Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, where he held the J.M. Ham Chair in Microelectronics from 1987 to 1997. In recognition of his scholarly achievements and preeminence in the field of microelectronics, he was appointed to his present position of University Professor in 1992.
One only has to scan the list of awards to realize the superb academic work that our recipient has undertaken. His contribution to the development of power semiconductor devices and the design of integrated circuits has been recognized with the ITAC/NSERC Research Fellowship in information technology, the Canada Council I.W. Killam Memorial Prize in Engineering for outstanding career contributions to the field of microelectronics.
He is also the recipient of the IEEE Millennium Medal, the Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Awards from NSERC and the Canadian Semiconductor Technology Conference.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, a member of the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario and of the Electrochemical Society.
His contribution to microelectronics is, by any measure, immense. For example, several million microchips using high voltage devices and processes developed by he and his coworkers have been put into commercial telecom systems.
There are numerous examples of his technical innovations that have contributed to high speed communications and wireless circuits.
Dr. Salama's current work involves research dealing with the design, development and implementation of very large scale and ultra large scale integrated circuits for use in high speed, high density communications and computer systems. These microchips are crucial to the development of the next generation of information technology systems.
In addition, his leadership in promoting Canada's microelectronics university research programs through involvement with NSERC and the Canadian Microelectronics Corporation, and his efforts in fostering Canadian industrial applications are widely recognized and appreciated. He is also well known and respected for his effectiveness as a teacher and developer of trained manpower, particularly graduate students. He has continuously played a highly constructive role in organizing faculty colleagues, government agencies, and industrial partners to work together toward agreed goals in research and education. Microelectronics research throughout Canada has benefited from his contributions and leadership. His crowning achievement to date may well be his actions both in the founding of the Canadian Microelectronics Corporation, which provides infrastructure support to microelectronics university researchers in Canada and of Micronet, a Federal Network of Centres of Excellence focussing on university-industry cooperative research in the areas of submicron devices, circuits and systems for Ultra Large Scale Integration, and subsequently in heading up this Network. This and his other achievements in assisting the development of communications and collaborations in his field are beyond compare in Canada and place him in a very select group.
It is a career of great accomplishment. ITAC is extremely proud to present our Outstanding Service Award for 2006 to Dr. Andre Salama.
11th Executive Forum on Microelectronics
Outstanding Service Award
For Presentation on Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Alan Aitken
Our recipient graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a B.Sc. degree in Physics and from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland with a Ph.D. degree in Applied Physics in 1969.
That same year, he joined Northern Telecom (now Nortel) where he was a manager responsible for development of new technologies required for the manufacture of proprietary integrated circuits used in Nortel’s communications equipment.
The group was responsible for the development of many of the advanced silicon process technologies used in Nortel’s proprietary integrated circuits that were key to the company’s successful digital systems.
In 1976, he joined Mitel Semiconductor as Vice-President Operations and R&D, where he established a production line running a variety of state-of-the-art silicon technologies. This line produced the key integrated circuits that were at the core of Mitel’s system products.
He also was instrumental in the development an ISO CMOS technology, which became an industry standard and was used to fabricate high performance analog/digital integrated circuits.
During this time, our recipient was also responsibility for an extensive technology transfer program including both products and the required manufacturing technology.
In 1984, he left Mitel to act as a consultant to the electronics industry. Working with the industry, he was a co-founder of the Canadian Semiconductor Design Association (CSDA) and acted as President from 1985 until 1996.
In 1994, he received one of ten IEEE Ottawa, 50th Anniversary “Pioneers in Technology” awards for his contribution to new technology development in the Ottawa region.
In the last ten years he has been active in a number of communications network initiatives:
- He was the founding Executive Director of OCRInet Inc., the high-speed ATM network connecting major research centres in the Ottawa-Carleton region that provided connection to the national CANARIE network.
- An original member of the CANARIE Technical Network Operating Committee.
- A member of the Federal Government Blue Ribbon panel (1998), advising the Federal Minister of Industry on the terms of reference for the Smart Communities Initiative.
- And a member of a CIDA/Philippine study, which identified and proposed strategic initiatives in Information Technology to accelerate the deployment of telecommunications in the Philippines.
His volunteer work included service on the Boards of:
- Actua, the Canadian engineering student run summer camp program, and
- The Ottawa Life Sciences Council from 2001 to 2003.
In 2001/2002 he served as Vice President in March Networks Corporation, a broadband applications company.
In all, his career has been one of remarkable success and achievement and we are very fortunate as a community and a country to have him in our technology industry.
It is with great pleasure this evening that we present the 2005 Outstanding Service Award to Alan Aitken.
Denis Colbourne
Denis Colbourne has been the President of DC Technologies Ltd. (a business management and technology consulting company) since 1998. Mr. Colbourne served on numerous corporate boards and is currently a member of the board of several high-tech companies including Opel, Inc (Connecticut). He is a member of the advisory boards of Spectalis Inc. (Ottawa), Avalon Micro Inc. (St. John's) and the National Research Council's Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre). He is on the Board of the International Datacasting Corporation. He was also a member of the Board of Governors of the Ottawa Hospital. Prior to retiring from Nortel in December 1998, Mr. Colbourne served as Vice President and General Manager of Nortel Semiconductors He was also Chairman of Shanghai Nortel Semiconductor (SNS), a Nortel joint venture based in Shanghai, PRC.
Dr. Adam Chowaniec, Chairman of the Board
Semiconductor Industry Advisor
With a career spanning academia, research and development, engineering management and executive positions, Dr. Adam Chowaniec brings a wealth of technology knowledge and leadership expertise to Zarlink. Dr. Chowaniec joined Zarlink's Board in February 2007.
Dr. Chowaniec began his career in 1975 as an assistant professor at Acadia University and in 1976 became a member of the scientific staff of Bell Northern Research in Ottawa. From there, he moved into engineering management at Nortel Networks. In 1983 he joined Commodore International, where he became vice-president of technology and was responsible for the development of the Amiga personal computer.
In 1986, he become president and CEO of the semiconductor firm Calmos Systems. Calmos Systems was acquired by Newbridge Networks Corporation in 1989 and renamed Newbridge Microsystems. Under this new structure, he served as both its president and as a vice-president of Newbridge Networks. In December 1995, he was the founding CEO of Tundra Semiconductor Corporation.
Dr. Chowaniec is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tundra Semiconductor, Chair of the Ontario Research and Innovation Council, and executive in residence at Vengrowth Capital Partners Inc. He is the past chair of the Information Technology Association of Canada board of directors. In 2005, the Privy Council of Canada appointed him to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada.
Dr. Chowaniec serves on numerous boards of directors in Canada and the United States, including BelAir Networks, Liquid Computing Corporation, Gridway and Microbridge Corporations. An active member of Ottawa's high technology community, Dr. Chowaniec has held positions with the Ottawa Economic Development Corporation, the National Research Council's Industrial Research Assistance Program and the Ottawa Health Research Institute. He is also the vice-chair of the Museum of Nature's national fundraising campaign.
He holds a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from Queen's University (Canada), as well as both a Bachelor of Engineering and a Ph.D. from the University of Sheffield (England). His affiliations include the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario.
Tony Marsh
Dr. Tony Marsh was educated in the United Kingdom and received his Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and Ph.D. in telecommunications from Imperial College, London University. After five years spent teaching electrical engineering in the U.K. and in the USA, he joined a research team investigating video telephony at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Holmdel, NJ. In 1975 Dr. Marsh moved to Canada to work at Bell-Northern Research Ltd. (BNR), now Nortel Technologies. His various responsibilities have included the design of advanced telephone equipment and fibre optic transmission systems, and managing the global computing and communications systems for the BNR organization.
In 1993 Dr. Marsh became President of the Canadian Microelectronics Corporation, dedicated to building research capability expertise in microelectronics in Canadian universities. He was also particularly interested in the challenge of improving science education in Canada at all levels, and was an active member of the Conference Board of Canada’s Corporate Council on Education and the Business-Education Forum on Science, Technology and Mathematics.
In 2001, Dr. Marsh came out of retirement to help champion the Canadian microelectronics industry’s campaign for increased university faculty. He agreed to take on the role of interim President of the newly formed, not for profit corporation, eMPOWR Canada Inc., which was established to receive any additional research grant funding which could be allocated from the Federal Government.
Tony Stansby
Tony Stansby’s career includes eighteen years with Bell-Northern Research and fourteen years with Nortel Networks. With BNR, he progressed through the design of military radar and communications satellites, management of two electronic switching systems product introductions, three years in international marketing, and finally to managing BNR’s corporate strategic technology and semiconductor R&D programs. As an executive in Northern Telecom (now Nortel Networks), he was responsible for semiconductor technology and product line management, and for NT’s electronic component manufacturing operations in Canada, the U.S. and Malaysia.
Since leaving Nortel in 1994, Tony has devoted much of his energy to helping establish microelectronics as a major Canadian growth industry and contributor to the national economy. During 1994-1995 he worked with a group of industry executives to develop a national growth strategy for the microelectronics sector. In 1996 he assumed responsibility for implementation of this strategy, as Executive Director of the Strategic Microelectronics Consortium. After restructuring SMC and establishing a collaborative industry, government and academia program to address the key issues for sustainable future growth, he became SMC’s Vice-Chairman in 1998. He continues to participate actively in the SMC program, most recently in the eMPOWR initiative to increase Canadian universities’ capacity to educate and train highly qualified graduates for the semiconductor and photonics industries.
Tony holds a Master’s degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University in the U.K. He is past Chairman and Board member of the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI); a past Board member of the Microelectronics & Computer Technology Corporation in Austin, Texas; and a current Board member of Orisar, Inc. (formerly Semiconductor Insights).
Doug Barber
H. Douglas Barber was born in Saskatchewan into a farming family. He obtained his B.Sc. degree with Great Distinction, winning the Governor General’s Gold Medal and his M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan in 1959 and 1960 respectively. As an Athlone Fellow and a NATO Scholar, he received his Ph.D. from Imperial College, University of London in 1965. His research was on pn junctions in III-V intermetallic compounds.
From 1965 to 1973 he worked in the Solid State Devices Department of Canadian Westinghouse in Hamilton, Ontario, where he worked on the basic properties of silicon, the characterization of silicon and GaAs devices, device fabrication technology and integrated circuit design. In 1973, he was one of the founders of Linear Technology Inc., a company designing, manufacturing and marketing bipolar monolithic integrated circuits. In December 1987, Dr. Barber became the President and CEO of the renamed Gennum Corporation, a company which has grown profitably at 21% per year and currently employs over 450 people.
In addition to his work at Gennum from 1967 to 1994, Dr. Barber found the time to be a part-time professor at McMaster University in Engineering Physics and has taught several courses for the IEEE on semiconductor devices and integrated circuits. He has authored 29 papers, holds several patents on semiconductor devices and he is a frequent speaker on topics related to business, technology, innovation and economic development.
Dr. Barber has played an active role in Microelectronics in Canada. He was a founding member of the Canadian Semiconductor Technology Conference, the Canadian Microelectronics Corporation, the Sectoral Skills Council, the Canadian Semiconductor Design Association, Micronet and the Strategic Microelectronics Consortium.
He is a committed family man. He and his wife, June, have raised a family of three boys and one daughter. Three of their children are married and they have four grandchildren. He is a man of faith and has been an elder in his church for over 24 years.
Dr. Barber won the APEO Engineering Medal in 1987. He was honoured with the University of Saskatchewan C.J. Mackenzie Distinguished Graduate Aware in 1989. In 1996, he was chosen by the Hamilton Engineering Institute and the regional PEO chapter as Engineer of the Year. In 1997, he was awarded the Honourary Degree of Doctor of Engineering from the University of Waterloo and in 1998, he was awarded the Honourary Degree of Science from McMaster University. In 1999, he was named Ontario’s Technology Entrepreneur of the Year, and he also received the National Citation for Innovation and Technology.
Dr. Barber is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario, the Electrochemical Society and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. He is a Board member for Micronet, the Canadian Advanced Technology Association (CATA), the Hearing Industries Association (HIA), Micralyne. Dr. Barber is a member of the Sectoral Skills Council, is Chair of the Board of Governors of McMaster University and is a member of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.
Andy Molozzi
Andy Molozzi is well known to most of us as a constant amidst a sea of dramatic change that typifies the global microelectronics industry. Throughout his long and very distinguished career, Andy has expended technology boundaries. He has been there, through good times and bad, to sing the praises of our Canadian companies and the wonderful infrastructure Canada has built. And in turn has called on us to give back to the industry.
Andy received his BASc (with honours) from the University of Toronto in Engineering Physics, and afterward was awarded an Athlone Fellowship for graduate study in the UK. At Imperial College in London, he earned both a DIC and a PhD in semiconductor physics and circuit design.
He then spent the early part of his career with the Defence Research Board of Canada, Defence Research Telecommunications Laboratory which later became the Communications Research Centre. During this period, he was intimately involved in Canada’s early space program and was one of the principle designers of Canada’s first satellite, Alouette One. In recognition of his achievements, he was named “Space Pioneer of Canada” and is a co-holder of the 1993 IEEE Engineering Milestone Award. Also, while at DRTE, Andy established a silicon integrated circuit research laboratory.
Andy’s professional experience includes time spent at Fairchild’s Semiconductor R&D Laboratory in Palo Alto, California; and the Electrical Engineering Department of the University of California at Berkeley. He was a founder and Vice-President of the Solid State Optoelectronics Consortium in 1988; a pre-competitive industry research group that developed the world’s first integrated, solid state Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexer. In 1994, Andy was a founder and President of an Ottawa-based high tech company concerned with landmine detection. And, in yet another role, combining his technology expertise with finance, Andy is a Director and Past President of Tradex, an Ottawa-based mutual fund company. He has also provided assistance to Labour Sponsored Venture Capital funds.
Andy has been an advisor to both Federal and Provincial Governments, including NSERC, the National Networks of Centres of Excellence, and Technology Ontario. He has been an active participant in various international committees and panels of the IEEE and is a Past Section Chairman for Ottawa. He has also contributed immensely to the growth and development of the microelectronics and photonics industries in Canada over the years, both as Director on the Board of the Canadian Microelectronics Corporation and as Chairman of the Strategic Microelectronics Consortium. In 2000, Andy was asked to spearhead a task force to urge the Federal Government to triple the number of faculty teaching microelectronics and related subjects in Canadian universities. This activity became known as the eMPOWR Campaign which brought a broader group of stakeholders together and set the scene for SMC to merge with ITAC earlier this year.
As the author of many publications, Andy has received national and international recognition for his contributions and for these many achievements, he was inducted into the Engineering Alumni Hall of Distinction at the University of Toronto in 1999.
As you can see, Andy has been involved in activities spanning various fields of science and engineering disciplines, management, finance and entrepreneurship. And now, as a resident of Victoria, British Columbia, Andy is trying to ease back from his usual, hectic pace by operating a consulting practice aimed at bringing business and technology closer together.
Andy has achieved many successes in his life, but more important than any of these is that he is simply a great human being in the “down-to-earth” sense. When I think of Andy, I think of: integrity, commitment, open/straight communication and passion.
Dr. Richard C. Foss
Richard C. (Dick) Foss was born in 1936 and educated in the U.K. He joined the EMI group as an apprentice in 1952 and worked on the design of the first EMI business computer – a vacuum tube machine. Simultaneously, he studied for a higher National Certificate in Electrical Engineering and Graduate Membership of the IEE, passing with distinction in 1956.
A Scholarship then took him to the University of Durham where he studied for his B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering (awarded with First Class Honours in 1959) and his Ph.D. in Electronics (awarded in 1964 after the work was used in missile telemetry systems by EMI). His career then turned to microelectronics with the Plessey Company, where he led a pioneering circuit design group with many creative successes in linear ICs, high speed counters (the subject of a 1968 International Solid-State Circuits Conference paper) and early MOS devices.
In 1970, Dr. Foss left the U.K. to join Microsystems International (MIL), a Canadian company located in Ottawa, Ontario and worked in various positions including head of design, MOS engineering manager and new products manager. Together with a colleague, Robert Harland, he worked on a trend-setting 4K DRAM that was the subject of a 1975 ISSCC paper. At its closure in 1975, MIL had become the second largest supplier in the world (after Intel) of MOS memory and microcomputers.
Richard Foss and Robert Harland founded MOSAID in 1975. Dr. Foss held various positions with the Company, including President and Chief Executive Officer. He served as a Director since 1975 and was Chairman of the Board from 1984 until his retirement at the end of 2001. He currently serves on the Technical Advisory Boards of MOSAID and Innovative Silicon in Lausanne. He also assists in the licensing of key memory patents granted to him while active in MOSAID. Many major companies in the industry are now licensed under these patents.
Dr. Foss has published numerous papers pertaining to semiconductor design, including invited papers at major conferences. He was also elected a fellow of the IEEE for “leadership in the design and testing of memory circuits.”
Professor A. Roy Boothroyd
Professor Boothroyd is a distinguished academic, foremost a teacher but also an exceptional researcher, who arguably can claim responsibility for leading Canada into global recognition for its transistor circuit design competence. Early on Professor Boothroyd made a career decision favouring academe. In 1998, he retired from Carleton University, Ottawa. His research focussed on bridging semiconductor physics to applications engineering. He is the recipient of many hours including IEEE Fellow.
Born in the UK, Professor Boothroyd obtained both his BSc and PhD degrees from Imperial College, University of London, London, England. Starting his professional career at his alma mater upon graduation in 1951, he went on to Queen’s University, Belfast in 1964, then immigrating to Canada, as Professor and Chair at Carleton University in1968. A friendship with IEEE Gold Medal winner Professor Pederson took him to the University of California, Berkeley, as Visiting Professor in 1961 and 1964 where he collaborated in the continuing development of the Berkeley’s SPICE transistor model.
A pioneer in basic design, modelling and application of semiconductor devices, Professor Boothroyd started his research in 1952 just four years after the invention of the transistor. At that time, the importance of the interplay between fabrication processes, internal device electronics and circuit performance was just gaining recognition. With continual evolution of semiconductor technology, his interest in this important but complex subject continued unabated. In 1962 he was invited by MIT to collaborate in the writing of a series of books on Transistor Electronics. His research was influenced by CAD software in everyday use by IC designers. He is the author of numerous published papers and holds five patents.
Professor Boothroyd has guided 91 students through to post-graduate degrees. Most that benefited from his superb tutelage have gone on to gain international prominence as eminent professors, as senior executives in business and government, as researchers in world-class laboratories, as leaders in whatever career path those chose. Active in collaborative research with industry, he ensured that his students graduated with a timely expertise. Of the 31 PhDs he supervised about 20 reside in Canada. Several were principal designers of Canada’s first satellite, Alouette I, launched in 1962; a Canadian space program that garnered an IEEE Milestone Award.
Recognizing his expertise, Nortel retained Professor Boothroyd as a consultant; a relationship that lasted 31 years until his retirement. Over the years, his presence became familiar to Nortel technical staff where he acted as a resource, a teacher, a mentor and a researcher. His influence was extensive, impacting on many more scientists and engineers than just those who received post graduate degrees.
Because of his quiet unassuming manner, Professor Boothroyd’s substantial contributions to Canadian microelectronics, while ubiquitous, are neither widely known nor appreciated. Without fanfare, he has influenced the way the world views the Canadian microelectronics sector. Through his training of bright young minds, his research, and by providing a role model for all academics, Professor Boothroyd has given Canada rich legacy.
Dr. Douglas R. Colton
Dr. Colton spent most of his career enabling microelectronics to realize its full economic potential in Canada, first as a researcher and latterly as a visionary working with universities and government to vastly increase microelectronic university research, coast-to-coast. Dr. Colton spent his entire professional career with Northern Electric, now Nortel Networks, retiring in 1991. For his outstanding achievements, he has gained national and international recognition. Dr. Colton has returned to his roots, choosing to make his retirement home in Calgary, Alberta.
Born on the Prairies in southern Saskatchewan, Dr. Colton has a B.A. in Chemistry from the University of Saskatchewan. A career in agriculture soon waned leading him to earn BSc, MSc and PhD engineering degrees from the University of Alberta. Upon graduation, he joined Northern Electric, Ottawa, moving to its R&D Laboratories in 1965. Because of his graduate study specialization in physical metallurgy, he was assigned to the semiconductor group.
While overseeing basic silicon R&D, he discovered the HCI process that is used to remove alkali and heavy metal contamination during the fabrication of silicon transistors. This process is now used worldwide in the manufacture of silicon ICs, and is of fundamental importance to the stability and performance of modern day microelectronics. Later, he managed the group responsible for early work on the implementation of filter-codec devices. These devices helped Northern Telecom become a world leader in digital telecommunications.
In 1984, Dr. Colton was promoted to Director of University and Government Relations where he remained until his retirement. His first challenge was to find a means for overcoming the high cost of microelectronics research in universities, with the goal of enabling all eligible Canadian institutions to participate. The result was a unique made-in-Canada solution, the internationally acclaimed Canadian Microelectronics Corporation. CMC, a not-for-profit partnership between the Federal Government, universities and Canadian industry, provides equipment, design tools, chip fabrication, testing and sundry services in an unusually cost-efficient manner. CMC has become a cornerstone upon which the Canadian microelectronics has blossomed, in turn enabling Canadian information and telecommunications companies to become world-class. Dr. Colton was a founder of CMC and, as its President, guided and nurtured it, from success to success, from 1984 until 1993.
In recognition of his achievements, in 1990 Carleton University awarded Dr. Colton the degree of Doctor of Engineering, honoris causa. His citation read “In recognition of an outstanding contribution to the emergence of a microelectronics industry in Canada and to the transfer of strategically important technological expertise from the universities to the private sector.”
The citation aptly describes Dr. Colton’s qualifications for an Outstanding Service Aware from the microelectronics community, including members from university, industry and government, that he so ably helped create. He can take pleasure in witnessing the fruit of his labours: a vibrant multibillion dollar industry in Canada, contributing to the well being of all Canadians.
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