2011 IEEE Design Automation Standards Awards

The DASC Participates in IEEE Standards Association Gala Event

The IEEE Computer Society Design Automation Standards Committee (DASC) participated in the annual IEEE Standards Association (SA) Award ceremony held in New Brunswick, NJ USA  on 4 December 2011.  Hundreds met to recognize the work of thousands who volunteer daily to develop standards and to honor the few who are exceptional examples.

The DASC recognized Larry Saunders as its “Ron Waxman Design Automation Standards Committee Meritorious Service Award” recipient.  Larry was recognized “for pioneering the standardization of VHDL that fundamentally changed the electronic system design process.”

As someone who has worked with Larry on and off over the years to promote the use of VHDL, I know firsthand he is very deserving of this recognition and it was a pleasure to be present as he, one of the renowned VHDL fathers, was given this award.  Yatin Trivedi, vice-chair of the DASC and director of standards at Synopsys gave a glowing tribute to Larry, not just from his DASC leadership role, but as a colleague, friend and mentor.

Pearl & Ron Waxman, myself, Larry Saunders, April Mitchell, Yatin Trevidi and Karen Bartleson from the DASC pose for a photo after the ceremony.

In addition to the “Ron Waxman” award, the IEEE-SA Working Group Chair Awards were also officially recognized.  From the DASC, two of the working groups completed standards development and published their work and a few members of each of those groups were given Working Group Chair awards.

1076.1.1™-2010 IEEE Standard for VHDL Analog and Mixed-Signal Extensions – Packages for Multiple Energy Domain Support
Tom Alderton, Peter J. Ashendon, Ernst Christen, David W. Smith

1647™-2011 IEEE Standard for the Functional Verification Language e
Mike Bartley, Darren Galpin, Amy Witherow

Yatin’s citation for the Ron Waxman Award, Ron’s additional background on Larry’s contributions and Larry’s acceptance video can be seen below.  The microphone was a bit away from the speakers and it was recorded at some distance from the speakers so the sound may be a bit hard to hear unless you use headphones.  But for those who were not there and might like to see it, it is offered for you.