TI Selects UT Dallas for Analog Design Contest

Texas Instruments has chosen UT Dallas as one of 11 universities to compete for the Engibous Prize student engineering contest to encourage innovation in analog electronics.

Selection was based on the quality of work submitted by the school’s electrical engineering students.

Named in honor of Tom Engibous, the recently retired chairman of Texas Instruments, the Engibous Prize will make first-, second-, and third-place cash awards to teams of engineering students who incorporate a variety of TI analog devices in their senior design projects.

A panel of TI, industry and academic judges will determine the winning student engineering teams who demonstrate the highest level of engineering analysis, originality, quality and creativity in their designs.

The 11 selected schools are currently participating in the TI Analog Design Contest that began in fall of 2007.  The winning teams from such select universities will be automatically entered for Engibous Prize consideration starting May 31.

Schools taking part in the competition include:

• Arizona State University.
• The University of Arizona.
• University of Arkansas.
• Ohio State University.
• Oregon State University.
• Prairie View A&M University.
• University of Puerto Rico.
• Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
• Texas A&M University.
• Texas Tech University.
• The University of Texas at Dallas.

The rise of digital electronics has created a need for more analog circuitry to translate real-world signals into the ones and zeros of digital processing. But the number of electrical engineering graduates who focus on the analog aspect of semiconductor and equipment design is small compared with the need.

“A shortage of talented students in analog could become the single most limiting factor in electronics innovations of the future,” said Gregg Lowe, TI senior vice president and leader of the company’s analog business unit.

The contest is part of TI’s efforts to rectify that problem.

Through the contest, the chip giant will present a total of $150,000 in prizes to the best analog designs in three regions of the world — Asia, Europe and North America.

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