2005 Aristotle Award
Professor David Allstot, recipient of the 2005 Aristotle Award, pictured with current student Charles Peach and former student Terri Fiez
The Aristotle Award is given to 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 Award is intended to acknowledge outstanding teaching in its broadest sense, emphasizing student advising and teaching during the research project thereby contributing to the maturation of the student.
The 2005 Aristotle Award was presented by Larry Sumney at the TECHCON 2005 Conference Banquet. The following is the text of the presentation.
The SRC Aristotle Award serves to highlight an important aspect of the SRC research program, i.e., the excellence of SRC researchers as teachers. The Call for Nominations for the Aristotle Award begins as follows: A primary goal of SRC is to produce advanced degree students with the capability to work effectively in the semiconductor industry. The Aristotle 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 Aristotle Award is intended to acknowledge outstanding teaching in its broadest sense, emphasizing student advising and teaching during the research project thereby contributing to the maturation of the student.
The Aristotle Award was authorized by the SRC Board of Directors in 1995 to recognize professors who best contribute to the development of the industry's most valuable resource, its human resource. The list of winners of the Aristotle speaks volumes about the quality of SRC researchers and the high standard set for SRC students. The awards have been made to some of the most exemplary university faculty in this country, and this year's award continues that tradition. Professor David Allstot, is eminently qualified to receive the 2005 Aristotle Award.
Dave Allstot is an unquestioned pioneer and leader in switched-capacitor circuits, mixed-signal integration and circuit design techniques, but more remarkable are the lives he has touched throughout his professional journey. For teachers, the proof of their success is always in the success of their students. Dave Allstot has supervised over 60 graduate students, many of them now active SRC faculty researchers and industry leaders, all of them attributing their success in great part to his teaching and mentoring. "As a teacher, he has inspired and educated a generation of circuit designers, who, in turn, are making an enormous contribution to the industry."
Many of his students talked about how he changed their lives. From Professor Terri Fiez, now department head at Oregon State, "I knew after I watched his first lecture that I would never return to industry." And from Ming Chiang, a TI vice president, "the single most rewarding class in my whole academic journey."
A recurring theme in the nomination letters was his ability to explain complex circuits in a clear and simple way. He is "outstanding at conveying the insights, the deep understanding, the 'big picture' that distinguishes real circuit designers from people who just know a bit about transistors."
Another side of Dave Allstot is that his students are part of his family. And he puts in the hours to make sure they are successful. One student talked about Mrs. Allstot sending chicken soup to the lab at 2:00 am so he could help two students finish a paper.
One former student, now CEO of a company, said it very clearly for many, "I would not be where I am today without his continuous advice and support." It is with a great deal of pleasure that SRC presents the 2005 Aristotle Award to Professor David Allstot.
