November 30, 2011
Chemical and biomolecular engineering professor David Graves has been appointed the first holder of the Lam Research Distinguished Chair in Semiconductor Processing. This 5-year appointment will support research for the advancement of nanoscale science and engineering.
Says Graves, “I am deeply honored and grateful to be the first holder of the Lam Research chair. My students and I have had several years of fruitful collaboration with Lam, and we look forward to many more.”
The Lam Research Foundation is contributing $1.5 million to the chair. The Hewlett Foundation’s Endowed Chair Challenge fund, which seeks to endow 100 new faculty chairs in multiple academic areas at UC Berkeley, will match this amount.
“We are delighted by the appointment of Professor David Graves as the first Lam Research Distinguished Chair at UC Berkeley,” said Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau. “Professor Graves is well known for his expertise and work in semiconductor processing science and technology. We are grateful to Lam Research for the generous gift that established this chair, funded a number of graduate fellowships, and provided new equipment and support to the Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory at UC Berkeley.”
Lam Research Corporation, headquartered in Fremont, CA, is a major supplier of semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment and services. The Lam Research Distinguished Chair endowment is the first ever for the Berkeley Nanosciences and Nanoengineering Institute (BNNI), the umbrella organization for expanding and coordinating Berkeley research and educational activities in nanoscale science and engineering.
“We are extremely pleased that the university has chosen Professor Graves as the Lam Research Distinguished Chair,” said Rick Gottscho, senior vice president of Global Products at Lam Research. “Professor Graves is an unconventional and creative thinker who has been a pioneer in advancing the understanding of plasmas and their application in etch, deposition, and the modification of surfaces for many years.”
Graves holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. He has been recognized with several prestigious awards, including the Plasma Science and Technology Division of the AVS Plasma Prize and election as an AVS Fellow in 2001. Graves’s research interests are in plasma processing and electronic materials. His research group focuses on the fundamentals and applications of weakly to partially ionized gases, or plasmas, to technological problems, primarily in the microelectronics industry.
Lam Research Press Release: http://investor.lamrc.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=628413
David Graves Faculty webpage: http://cheme.berkeley.edu/faculty/graves
Graves Lab: http://graves-lab.cchem.berkeley.edu/