GOVERNMENT

New Lab Dedicated to World-Class Electronic Design Academics and Advanced Bioengineering Research: Synopsys today announced that the Case School of Engineering at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio is the recipient of a Charles Babbage Grant sponsored by both Synopsys and HP. Through the grant, Case's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science will receive licenses of Synopsys' comprehensive electronic design automation (EDA) software and intellectual property, along with curricula, support and professor training, and sixteen dual core HP xw4400 Workstations to outfit the new Synopsys/HP EDA Laboratory. Synopsys software provides students and researchers the opportunity to utilize industrial tools for logic and physical synthesis, circuit simulation, nanometer device modeling, and fabrication process modeling in both academics and research. Synopsys software serves as the foundation for an industry-standard design flow where students get real-world, hands-on experience building and testing their designs. "Case has always prided itself on providing a world-class educational experience that goes beyond the traditional classroom setting," said Norman Tien, dean of the Case School of Engineering and the Ohio Eminent Scholar in Condensed Matter Physics. "This generous gift from Synopsys and HP provides a wonderful resource for us to continue and enhance this tradition." Access to commercial-grade design tools for advanced research and microelectronic design is a common issue facing universities today. Synopsys helps solve this challenge through initiatives like the Charles Babbage Grant and its Worldwide University Program, which provide select universities with design software for modern electronic design flows and leading commercial IC fabrication processes. Previous grant recipients in the United States include Purdue, Syracuse, and San Jose State University. Chi-Foon Chan, Synopsys' president and chief operating officer and a Case alum, will return to the campus to dedicate the lab and meet with students and faculty. "Synopsys selected the Case School of Engineering because of its academic focus on high-level RTL synthesis, design for testability, embedded system design and test, and reconfigurable computing design as well as its current research efforts in bioengineering applications," said Dr. Chan. "Through this grant, Synopsys enables Case to further its mission to educate and prepare graduates to lead the advancement of technology, and to create new products and methods that impact and are beneficial to society."