Alumnus Hansen named CEO of Semiconductor Research Corporation

7/16/2015 Claire Hettinger, ECE ILLINOIS

Ken Hansen (BSEE ’74, MS ’77) is the new CEO of the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), the world's leading technology research consortium.

Written by Claire Hettinger, ECE ILLINOIS

Ken Hansen (BSEE ’74, MS ’77) is the new CEO of the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), the world's leading technology research consortium. Hansen is a past ECE Distinguished Alumni Award winner. 


Hansen’s interest in the semiconductor industry started with EE 344, which is now ECE 444, Integrated Device Theory and Fabrication.

At the time, it was one of only two courses in the country that included a fabrication lab where an engineering student could build a working transistor. Hansen's education instilled a passion for semiconductors ranging from device physics to circuit and system design that has stayed with him during his 39-year career in the field. 

“Illinois has been the basis of my success, no question,” he said. “I learned to not just solve problems but to think and apply myself.”

After graduation, Hansen began his career at Motorola, working on two-way radios. He designed wireless communications integrated circuits for that market, and later, for the cellular phone market. Ultimately, he became the chief technology officer of the company's offshoot, Freescale Semiconductor.

Hansen's career change provides him an opportunity to give back and share his knowledge with students.

“I can help push the technology research agenda forward in the semiconductor industry and provide a way to give back to the next generation of students, as well as contribute to creating the next generation of leaders,” he said.

SRC brings together members from industry with academia and government as research partners. Industry competitors cooperate to define areas for pre-competitive university research which SRC funds. The company identifies fundamental roadblocks facing the industry and through university research, discovers solutions so they don't affect industry growth.

For example, Hansen said, SRC programs address the security and the power consumption crises while also exploring non-traditional synergies between biology and semiconductor technology.

SRC has been funding research at Illinois for the 33 years the company has been in business. Throughout the years, SRC provided the university with $63 million in funding. The research has contributed to widespread advances in many aspects of semiconductor engineering including Automatic Test Pattern Generation, parallel compute architectures and programming, design optimization, circuit simulation, power consumption modeling, device characterization, and ESD simulation.

As CEO, Hansen said he hopes to deepen the partnership with his alma mater.

“The education that you receive at Illinois is as solid of an education as anywhere in the country, or anywhere in the world,” he said. “The simplest thing to say is, I would be nowhere without it.”


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This story was published July 16, 2015.