C.R. Viswanathan

 
Professor C.R. Viswanathan received his undergraduate education in India and his Ph.D. degree from U.C.L.A.  He is a professor of Electrical Engineering at U.C.L.A. and has been a faculty member since 1962. His area of research is semiconductor electronics and in particular the physics and modeling of devices. His current research is in low temperature device behavior, thin oxide characterization, and device modeling. In the following paragraphs a brief summary of his contributions and accomplishments is given.

Teaching
 
Professor Viswanathan has taught courses both in his own field of expertise which is Solid State Electronics and in other related fields such as Electromagnetics and Circuits. In the sixties he created the Undergraduate and Graduate courses in Solid State Electronics and developed Solid State Electronics as a Major field of study at U.C.L.A. both at the Undergraduate and Graduate levels. The Ph.D. field in solid State Electronics is a popular one having the largest number of students among all the fields in the Electrical Engineering Department. Dr. Viswanathan has received outstanding teaching evaluations from students in all the classes he has taught. He received several teaching awards as stated in section on Honors and Awards. He has also coordinated and taught several short courses on specific topics in modern semiconductor electronics through U.C.L.A. Extension. He also taught numerous in-house courses for industries such as Hughes, Rockwell, Digital Equipment Corporation and Eastman Kodak Company. He has been invited to conduct tutorial short courses as part of the Custom Integrated Circuits Conference and the Annual Radiation Effects Conference.
 
 
Research
 
Dr. Viswanathan is very active in research in the area of physics and technology of semiconductor devices. He has published more than 150 papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings. His research support has been averaging nearly $200,000 a year from government and industrial agencies. He is carrying out research in low temperature electronics, thin oxide integrity, device characterization, defect studies and VLSI technology in the last few years. Specifically, the projects that he is currently involved in are Characterization of MOS Devices at Cryogenic Temperatures, Low Frequency Noise in Focal Plane Arrays Used for IR Imaging, semiconductor device processing, Plasma Etch Damage and Silicon-On-Insulator Devices. His research has been recognized through several awards and honors such as IEEE Centennial Medal Award and IEEE Fellowship Award and several invitations to deliver invited papers in international conferences.

University Service
 
Professor Viswanathan has a strong record of committee service at the departmental school, campus and statewide levels. His departmental service includes academic committees such as Course and Curriculum Committee, and Ph.D. Field Committee and administrative committees such as Space Committee, Budget Committee and Merit Review Committee.
 
He served on various school committees such as Graduate Policy Committee, Dean’s Advisory Committee and Advisory Board for Minority Education Program. During his service in the Graduate Policy Committee as a member for three years and as the chairman in the last year, he led the effort for the introduction of a new degree program called the Engineer Degree.
 
At the campus level, he has served on the Election Committee, Graduate Council, Legislative Assembly of the Academic Senate, Teaching Committee, the Latin American Studies Committee, the Council on Academic Personnel, and the Committee on Undergraduate Courses and Curricula. He chaired the Conflict of Interest Committee in the last two years. At the system-wide level, he has served on the state-wide Assembly of the Senate and the MICRO Executive Committee. He served as the Vice-Chair of the Academic Senate in 1996-1997 and is now serving as the chair of the Academic Senate.

Administrative Experience
 
Dr. Viswanathan has had a substantial administrative experience in several aspects of univeristy life. He served as the Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies between 1974 and 1977, during which period he contributed to the improvement of the standards of the graduate program in the School of Engineering. Between 1979 and 1985 he was the Chairman of the Electrical Engineering Department. Under his Chairmanship, the Department doubled in size, the research support from extramural sources doubled in amount and several new activities that contributed to the growth in the visibility of the Department were initiated. The national ranking of the Department rose to five within three years after he took over as the Chairman. He brought about a very close relation between the Department and the Industry.
 
He was also involved in the formation of the California MICRO Program. He was a founding member for two years and Chairman for seven years of the Executive Committee of MICRO. He was also given the title of Director of the MICRO Program. In his role as the Chair and Director he was administering annually four million dollars of State funds and nearly six and a half million dollars of Industrial funds.
 
 
Honors and Awards
 
Dr. Viswanathan has been honored for excellence in teaching through several awards. He received the Distinguished Teaching Award from the U.C.L.A. Academic Senate. He was given the Western Electric Fund Award sponsored by A.S.E.E. for excellence in engineering education. He was awarded the Distinguished Faculty Award sponsored by the Engineering Alumni Association. One year he was chosen by the U.C.L.A. Alumni Association to be written up as one of the seven faculty members who are outstanding teachers in the campus in a publication that was sent to all undergraduate students.
 
He has also been honored for his research through several recognitions and awards. He was given the IEEE Centennial Medal Award in 1984 for his contributions in research and profession. He was selected as a Fellow of IEEE for his contributions to the theory of Metal Oxide Semiconductor Devices. He was honored as the National Lecturer for 1986-87 by the Electron Devices Society of IEEE. He has also been invited to present talks in several national and international conferences in his field. He was advanced to Life Fellow Grade of IEEE in 1995. He recently received the Undergraduate teaching Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers in December 1997 for his inspirational teaching and for setting up the solid state electronics curriculum.