Andrew T. Yang Research and Entrepreneurship Award

Established 2013

Andrew T. Yang

As a cofounder of Apache Design Solutions, Andrew T. Yang (MSEE ‘86, PhD ‘89) has distinguished himself as a leading innovator and entrepreneur in the electronic design automation industry. This award, established in 2013, will provide one or two years of funding for a graduate student and faculty member exploring a risky but highly novel research concept.

In establishing this award, Yang said he wants to inspire students to do more than just fulfill their degree requirements. The award will provide funding for an ECE graduate student fellowship to support the exploration of exceptional ideas in engineering science and technology with potential for transforming those ideas into commercial applications.

Description:

In even-numbered years, two new teams of one ECE grad student and one ECE faculty member will be selected for up to two years of funding to support their projects. The goal is to help them advance toward commercial applications that will add value and wealth to the University of Illinois, the state, and the nation. The resulting intellectual property will be owned by the University of Illinois.

Selection Process:

Teams consisting of one ECE faculty member as principal investigator (PI) and one ECE graduate student will submit a proposal for evaluation to the selection committee. Proposed research should be sufficiently dissimilar from prior research conducted by the PI. Second-year funding will depend on satisfactory progress on the project, to be judged by a committee appointed by the head of ECE ILLINOIS.

Award:

The recipient(s) will be recognized during an annual Student Awards Banquet. All student recipients are featured on the second floor of the ECE Building's Student Honors Wall.

Past Recipients of the Award