For those of you who don’t know, there is one over-arching prize awarded by the leadership of the EDA industry each year. The Phil Kaufman Award, founded in the early 1990’s in memory the late CEO Of Quickturn Systems, honors the accomplishments of individuals who are deemed to have made a "substantial, sustainable contribution to the success and advancement of the EDA industry that benefits the industry’s tools users – electronic designers."

Past award winners include Hermann Gummell (1994), Donald Pederson (1995), Carver Mead (1996), Jim Solomon (1997), Ernest Kuh (1998), Hugo de Man (1999), Paul Huang (2000), Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli (2001), and Ron Rorher (2002).

For the past 9 years, the award has been given at the annual EDA Consortium banquet in the fall, a semi-formal affair usually held in San Jose, where the glitterati of EDA come out in force to enjoy dinner and honor the Kaufman Award winner.

For the past 9 years as well, U.C. Berkeley’s Dean of the College of Engineering Richard Newton has acted as MC for the event, graciously detailing the accomplishments and technology advancements attributed to each year’s recipient. Newton is an articulate after-dinner speaker, one that always adds a measure of poise and bonhomie to the event.

Something is going to be very different at this year’s EDAC banquet, however. Instead of Newton, Synopsys CEO Aart de Geus will be providing the after-dinner comments. An equally poised speaker, de Geus and will undoubtedly also go to great lengths to detail the accomplishments and technology advancements associated with this year’s Kaufman Award winner.

Why? Because this year Richard Newton, himself, has been named as the recipient of the award. Newton is widely admired in the industry and de Geus will have no problem soliciting a warm ovation from the EDAC dinner crowd when presenting Newton with his honor.

In light of the award, Dr. Newton was willing to sit for the following conversation, gamely answering dozens of random questions with candor and aplomb. Surely if nothing else, he deserves an award for having endured this particular interview. We spoke by phone.

A: Yes (with a chuckle).

A: Indeed, I can.

A: Yes, I have.

A: Not personally, but I have respect for him as an actor.

A: No, but I have even more respect for her.

A: No, but I would have been more interested in him if he had run for governor.

A: It must be Sydney.

A: Melbourne, Australia.

A: Melbourne.

A: I studied Electrical Engineering at the University of Melbourne.

A: In those days, the only languages of any consequence were Fortran and Cobol. Cobol was for economists. I did my programming in Fortran and in Basic.

A: I played a number of sports. Everybody played Australian-rule football, which is very different than soccer. It’s played with a pointed ball, somewhat like an American football, but you have to dribble it at least every 10 meters or be penalized. It’s a kicking game, where you’re not allowed to throw the ball, but only allowed to punch it with your hand. Back then, Australian-rule football was only played in the southern part of the country, and rugby was only played in the north. These days, both sports are played pretty much everywhere in Australia.

Ultimately, I played Australian-rule football semi-professionally as a student. Eventually, however, I had to make a trade-off between my studies and my sports injuries. We had practice on Mondays and Wednesdays, and we played games on Saturdays. Most Sundays, I’d be flat on my back recovering because it’s a very violent game.

I also played basketball for the University of Melbourne. In American terms, the position I played was called "forward." I traveled around the country playing for the University for two seasons.

I was also active in athletics when I was younger. My preferred event was the triple jump. One of my brothers told me last year – he’s a school teacher back in Australia – that I still hold the Victoria state triple-jump record for high school students under the age of 17.

A: (Chuckling) I actually have a cartoon outside of my office that I’ve had since I was an Assistant Professor. Two young women are talking. One says to the other, "I understand that you recently married a doctor." The other young woman replies, "Yes, but unfortunately, he’s not the right kind of doctor. He’s a PhD."

Actually, my parents were very happy with whatever I did. My father was pleased to see me go into the sciences. He had his own record business, something like Tower Records, where he sold records and electrical goods. He was pleased to see that I could do something in a technical area that went beyond what he could do. [His life choices] were limited by World War II. He had served as an RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) pilot off the coast of England during the war searching for German submarines.

A: They sort of do. Some years ago, I was in Echuca in Victoria, a small country town where my brother teaches. There was a man at a party that we attended who ran a knackery. This man was told that I used to play Australian-rule football and he began to try to recruit me, in his heavy Australian accent, for the local team. He asked me what I do for a career. I told him I work in chip design and he asked me to tell him what that was. I happened to be wearing a digital watch, so I pointed to my watch and said, "I work in the technology that makes things like this."

He said, "Oh great, because we really need watch makers in this town."

A: If you remember, we used to call it "CAD," so I was a "CAD person" when I worked on SPICE programs as an undergraduate and Master’s student in Australia. The term "EDA" came into vogue in the early 1980’s. In fact, I was telling Aart [de Geus] the other day, that I think I’m responsible in part for the introduction of the term "design technology."

I was at Motorola one day with Mel Slater and we were lamenting the fact that "EDA" and "CAD" got little respect and small budgets. We decided that what we needed was a new name, so we came up with "design technology." We started using it at conferences, and pretty soon people were using the term widely.

A: "Techniques for the Simulation of Large Scale Integrated Circuits"

I invented a program called SPLICE, which was a simulation program with a large scale integrated circuit emphasis. It was one of the first mixed-mode simulators.

A: Not really, although of course it influenced many commercial programs over the years. After I graduated and became a faculty member at Berkeley, Res Saleh kept working on it. When he became a professor at the University of Illinois, he continued to work on mixed-mode simulation. He developed a program called ISPLICE – the "I" is for Illinois – and won awards for that work. Eventually he left Illinois and founded Simplex. I helped him with that and was a founding Board Member. Res left Simplex to return to faculty life and is now at the University of British Columbia.

A: Don Pederson.

A: I came as a student in 1975 to join Don Pederson’s group. After I finished in 1978, I took 6 months off to travel around the world a bit. [I returned to Berkeley] and joined the faculty in 1979. I had interviewed and received offers from MIT, Bell Labs, IBM at Yorktown Heights, HP in Colorado Springs – I liked that offer because I thought I could be a farmer there, as well – and one from Carnegie Mellon (CMU).

I had a girlfriend at the time, a student from Berkeley who was on an exchange program in India. I wrote her a letter and explained my choices, and asked her what she thought I should do. She wrote back and said all of the offers looked good, and that I should choose the one that I thought I liked best. I chose Berkeley because I knew she was familiar with the campus and thought that would be her first choice. When I wrote her and told her, she wrote back and said that Berkeley was the worst possible choice. Unfortunately, she wasn’t my girlfriend much longer after that.

A: Yes, I’m married and I have two daughters, ages 10 and 7.

A: Well, there are probably several, but certainly the "Band Play" is one of them [when the Stanford Band ran out of the field at the end of the Big Game, before the final whistle, and Cal ended up winning].

A: We are, of course.

A: I don’t know where that is.

A: Oh. Well, I’ve been there, I just didn’t know that it was called Tightwad Hill.

A: (Another chuckle) Actually, one progresses in one’s tastes in beer as one matures in life. I used to prefer Foster’s. Or better yet, Victoria Bitter, but you can’t get that here. Now my favorite is the Czech Budweiser. It’s the original Bud and the best beer in the world, but it’s not allowed to be imported to the States because of trademark violations.

A: Very cold!

A: I don’t root for any of the Bay Area teams. The only game I’m interested in is the Big Game. What you have to understand is that I’m on the Board at Tensilica (Santa Clara, CA) and we’ve got an approximately 50/50 split there between Stanford and Berkeley in the senior management and engineering crew

If Stanford wins the Big Game, Cal supporters have to treat [the Stanford half] to lunch at a very conspicuous restaurant in the South Bay ,while wearing a Stanford football jersey. It’s a standing bet and I have several photographs of myself wearing a Stanford uniform. In fact, I’ve had the unfortunate circumstance of having to do that for four years in a row. Last year, however, was a very sweet year for me, one that I enjoyed very much!

A: Quite a lot, both in-state and out-of-state, unfortunately.

A: Actually, women in engineering have been one of my priorities for the last 3 years. I’m pleased to say that we have more women enrolled at the undergraduate and graduate level combined than in ever before in history of the College of Engineering. It’s true it’s only 26 percent, but that’s significantly better than the national average.

We have also worked hard to identify and recruit the very best women faculty for the College. Of the 9 positions that we recruited last year, 5 were women. That’s in comparison to the previous 5 year, when only 1 position recruited was a woman. Now women faculty constitute just above 12 percent, which is a long way from the desired 50 percent, but we’re working on it.

To that end, we also tried to encourage the Anita Borg Institute for Women in Science and Technology to come to Berkeley. We didn’t succeed, but as a consolation prize, I joined the Board of Trustees for the institute. I think it’s an absolutely fantastic organization.

A: Number 1.

A: It depends on which ranking you’re looking at. According to US News & World Report, we’re always in the top 3. Sometimes, it’s MIT or Stanford or Berkeley or CMU.

A: Again, we’re usually in the top 3. MIT is normally ranked Number 1, which is a result of their marketing.

A: Similarly, we’re in the top 3.

A: Because many years ago in their wisdom, the faculty decided that the relationship was best served and our students would benefit the most by having the ability to efficiently straddle the boundaries between the two [disciplines].

Q: What do you believe are the top 5 schools in the nation in VLSI CAD tool design?

A: Absolutely! I have a particular respect for John Hennessy and everything that he’s done.

A: No. In fact, it’s interesting.

I’ve looked at some statistics there. I did some calculations with regards to how much money Cal students and faculty have created in terms of wealth. I used something called "a distributed basis" to do the calculation – what companies are worth in their early steady state as so forth. I came up with a figure of over a trillion dollars.

People often overlook the contributions that Cal engineers have made in Silicon Valley. Currently there are 300,000 living Cal Berkeley alumni. Did you know that more than 1 out of every 1000 Californians you meet is a Cal alumni. In the Bay Area, 1 out of every 100 persons is a Berkeley grad. We’re the powerhouse that has powered Silicon Valley.

Given the number of engineers we produce, the number of engineers that have made significant contributions to Silicon Valley exceeds by a significant amount those from virtually any other institution. That’s something that few people understand.

A: I would say that the mood is cautious. I say that, because people are very concerned about our position in the world – the consequences of terrorist activity and the consequences of our government.

A: You are trying to ask two separate questions, one related to the work force and one related to student bodies.

On the work force side, job migration to other regions in the world is inevitable. It’s not something that can really be controlled. And frankly, trying to control it by limiting access to jobs [is a mistake]. Job migration is very unfortunate for those affected by the trend, but we’ve seen similar trends in other industries from the beginning of the history of this Republic. It just happens [to be happening] in high tech right now.

Our responsibility is to replace those [lost] jobs with even better jobs. In the IT industry, that means we need to find jobs that are higher up in the food chain. We need to create an environment that’s attractive to our local employee base. Part of the challenge is that the regulatory environment in California has to change and improve. And part of the challenge is to create entrepreneurs and new technologies – biotechnology, nanotechnology – that will allow us to continue the prosperity and economic growth that we enjoy today.

Now as far as the role of great research universities in the state – schools like Stanford and Berkeley – our role is even sharper and more important today. It’s so important that the public in general, and the state legislature, understand the critical role that a great university plays.

Berkeley, as a state university, does not take in as many foreign students as other universities. But we still do take in quite a few. Our view is that many of those students will decide to stay. I came as a foreign student and stayed – and, hopefully, contributed. It’s true that many of the foreign students do leave, but they continue to contribute to our economy through relationships they made while they were studying here.

Last week, I was over in Taiwan and I met with a number of U.C. educated professionals there. In almost every case, there was still a strong relationship with the U.S. in one way or another. We have to stop thinking about "brain drain" and start thinking about "brain circulation" around the world. That’s got to be the vision and it’s something that we at Cal are working towards.

That said, I’d like to see a lot more Americans interested in engineering. It’s not just up to the high schools [to provide quality education in preparation for that]. Frankly, there’s a responsibility on the shoulders of universities to go in and help as well.

There’s another factor – it’s the opportunity cost of doing a graduate degree. At Berkeley, only 5 percent of our undergraduates are from outside of California. But in the graduate schools, we have a higher percentage of foreign students. We frankly can’t get that many American students to come. The perception is that the opportunity cost is too high.

If engineers go out with a B.S. and work in Silicon Valley, they can get a hefty salary. How long does it take to catch up for losing 5 [earning years] spent in graduate school? I do an annual computation and, right now, if you left here with a B.S. in Computer Science, while another student spent the next 5 years as a graduate student, it would take 7 years after that before the person with the graduate degree finally catches up [financially] with the person with the B.S. [who’s been working all along].

Clearly, you don’t do graduate school for the money. But it’s still incumbent upon us to reduce this economic gap if we can, [to encourage more graduate students to enroll].

A: I would make sure that he understands the critical role of research universities in the state and how they impact the future of the state. I don’t know yet who on his staff really understands these issues, other than Carly Fiorina (CEO at HP) who’s on his transition team.

A: I’m very schizophrenic on that.

On the one hand – yes. I just got back from a conference in Okinawa on the development of system biology. When I look at the work going on there, the huge open questions and challenges, I would love to be there in the trenches. Because, as all of us do, we instantly think we have the answers to everything.

Then, I tilt my head the other way. In fact, I really enjoy my responsibilities and challenges today. I think if I can continue to have an impact on the college, I’ll feel good about that.

A: Oh my – using a computer, or manually?

A: Jeez – it must have been 1973.

A: Of course!

A: Don Pederson’s. Many others as well, but principally Don Pederson’s.

A: Through my wonderful staff and faculty colleagues and graduate students.

A: I have 6 students right now. Two are in EDA, finishing up their work. One is in pin-based computing and about to graduate. He’s been working on the Microsoft Tablet PC and actually has some code in the product. Another one is following up on that work and working on the next phase. Two are relatively new to my group. One is looking at what we can do with cameras in cell phones using modern Baysian techniques and adaptive algorithms. The other student is being directed towards looking at IT for the developing world.

That’s been a large part of my work lately – working on applying IT for societal problems in education, the environment, and responding to natural disasters. I’ve pioneered the forming of a center [to pursue research in that area] called CITRIS, the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society. You can learn more about it at www.citris.berkeley.edu.

Right now, I’m also teaching a course along with Tom Kalil (former Assistant in the Clinton White House for Science and Technology, now at Berkeley) and Eric Brewer (Founder of Inktomi) called Information and Communications Technology for Billions, which look at IT architectures for developing nations. We’re using the Internet to teach the course and working with about 60 students. Our students are not just engineers, but also business students, lawyers, sociologists, and students from the humanities.

We’re searching for the optimal architecture for delivering communication and data to any person on the planet, [including] the 4 billion people on earth who earn less than $2000 per year. This is a global economy we live in today. All of these people are our brothers and sisters, and we have a responsibility to this end. In particular we would like to see women better educated to improve the overall future of the planet.

However, if you don’t like that argument [in favor of our efforts], there’s the national defense argument. Less than 100 million people on Earth earn more than $20,000 a year. That’s an incredibly small number of people [out of the billions that are on the planet]. Unless those billions feel happier [soon], the minority of us [living comfortably] will not be able to enjoy our lifestyle.

And, there’s a third argument. As entrepreneurs – I have started a number of companies – there’s big business to be made in developing technology and selling it to the developing world. Ultimately, of course, these things need to be viable business opportunities. This technology has to be employed in a bottom-up way, developed through the needs and desires of the consumer.

Ultimately, it’s about feeling good that we can tell our grandchildren that what we did improved the quality of life for everyone.

A: That question could be the subject of an entire article.

I think that the idea that a university should focus only on pure research is outdated. A modern research university must, of course, pursue with vigor the most challenging and deeply fundamental research in all areas. But I believe that it is increasingly important and necessary to couch that research within the context of real world applications.

I divide research into two categories. The first is funding of the arts, research where the sponsor is interested in research for its own sake – discovering planets that orbit around other stars in the galaxy, for instance. The other type of research is funded for the benefit of mankind, which is what I’m talking about here – funding for research that ultimately results in social and economic benefits for everybody.

Twenty years ago, in my own work, my colleagues and I were criticized because we were "too close to industry." I’m glad I was not persuaded by that argument. At Stanford and Cal, etc., our work has been far more important than it would have been otherwise. For the present, CITRIS is an example of this. We have great industry partners. Our research agenda reflects this balance between fundamental inquiry based on research and a practical context for its applications. We’ve now had 25 years of understanding and maintaining that balance. I think today we know how to do that very well.

I was the first student in Engineering here to be supported by an industry fellowship. Don Pederson sent me down to HP to present my research to an engineering manager there. I showed him my CAD project, running it on an HP 2100 personal mini-computer. [I may not have known much at the time], but what I did know then was that eventually everyone would have one of these computers. The HP 2100 was a prototype for what an EDA workstation would eventually look like. The management at HP wrote a check for $25,000 to Pederson to support my work. Don was a pioneer in getting that [type of funding for his students].

A: A great leader is someone, first and foremost, who can build a relationship of trust with the people that he or she works with. A leader needs to create a vision that's compelling enough that everyone who is part of that vision wants to contribute to it personally, and also believes that they're part of something much greater than themselves.

Leading faculty, however, is more like herding cats – there are roughly 200 tenure-track professors in the School of Engineering here. The secret to getting them to march in a common direction is to control the food. A dean’s job, in terms of leadership, is a) to have the food, and b) to control how the food is distributed.

A: I think that even though it didn’t work out as he had planned, Joe Costello was on the right track back when he tried to transition the industry away from being just a tools industry.

A: That’s the wrong question to ask. The number of companies that the industry can support is a self-answering question. The better question is can the existing companies derive the economic benefits that they deserve for the contributions that they make to the industry. One of my struggles as an entrepreneur is to better understand why, [historically], that has not been the case. Ultimately, I believe the EDA industry has pigeonholed itself largely as a tools business. But traditionally, tools don’t make the profit margins in an industry. It’s the products that the tools help to make that [generate] the margins.

A: Always for the challenge! Everything I’ve ever done has always been for the challenge. If indeed you do focus on the challenge, it’s amazing how many other benefits come as a result. I always tell students that if you just focus on the money, you’ll lose. But if you focus on making a positive change in the world, many of those other benefits will come.

A: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Although right now, I’m reading The Battle for God by Karen Armstrong.

A: "Give Peace a Chance"

Q: And what single marvel would you include in the capsule?

A: I'd have to include two marvels – a recording of a song from my daughter Neeris, who is a great singer, and a painting from my daughter Amrita, who is a great artist.

A: He can mention anything he wants. Although I’d rather he not mention the fact that about a year and a half ago I had a bet with some engineers at Microsoft – I’m on the Microsoft Technical Advisory Board – I made a bet that if Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for governor, that he would lose. I lost that bet.

A: I’ll emphasize my spiritual side a little bit more.

A: Not at all.

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If you need a more conventional narrative detailing Professor Newton’s many accomplishments, please refer to the Press Release announcing the 2003 Phil Kaufman Award winner posted on the EDAC website at www.edac.org

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Editor's Note: An edited version of this article first appeared on-line in EDA Weekly in October 2003.

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Big Game Week 2004

Peggy Aycinena owns and operates EDA Confidential. She can be reached at peggy@aycinena.com