Aristotle Award Presentation TECHCON 2020

For over two decades, Professor Goodson has cultivated a renowned association with SRC and its industry members. He began working with SRC in the early 90s as a Ph.D. student at MIT under Professor Dmitri Antoniadis (2014 Aristotle Award, 2017 Technical Excellence Award). Professor Goodson went on to become a professor at Stanford with his first research contract being sponsored by SRC.

He has trained many top-notch Ph.D. students in the field of nano-scale heat transfer, many of whom are now themselves internationally renowned. An important element of his sustained impact is his ability to involve his students in all aspects of research. Professor Goodson’s strength lies in his ability to listen to his industry collaborators, distill out the essentials of a problem to be solved, often in the company of his students, and then give these students the flexibility to define a solution direction. By unrelentingly demanding the best in his students, through gentle but thorough leadership, Ken instilled independence, a sense of pride and a focus on technical depth in his students. Ken’s students have universally done well, e.g. Evelyn Wang and Bill King are Department Chairs at MIT and UIUC respectively today, partly a reflection of how they have trained under Ken and realized their potential.

The Aristotle Award was initiated in 1995 to recognize professors who best contribute to the development of the industry’s most valuable resource, its human resource.  This award recognizes SRC-supported faculty whose deep commitment to the educational experience of SRC students has had a profound and continuing impact on their professional performance and, consequently, a significant impact for members over a long period of time.  

The list of winners of the Aristotle speaks volumes about the quality of SRC researchers and the high standard set for SRC student. The award has been made to some of the most exemplary university faculty, and this year’s award continues that tradition.