WSU's Ismail awarded for leadership in semiconductor research

The Semiconductor Research Corporation recently presented Mohammed Ismail, professor and chair of electrical and computer engineering at Wayne State University, with the SRC Board of Directors Recognition Award to acknowledge pioneering semiconductor research in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Ismail, formerly of Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi, and Ibrahim Elfadel, professor of microsystems engineering at Khalifa, co-direct the ATIC-SRC Center of Excellence for Energy Efficient Electronics Systems, also known as ACE4S.

The center was established to accelerate multi-university technology research in self-powered wireless sensing and monitoring systems. It connects scholars and institutions investigating such domains as energy-efficient wireless chipsets and sensors, wearable devices, miniaturized mechanical and electro-mechanical systems, energy harvesting, power management, and scalable nanometer systems-on-chip.

In the last five years, ACE4S graduated Abu Dhabi's first Ph.D. students in the semiconductor field, became the region's first multi-university research center, had award-winning papers published in multiple notable publications, and facilitated the creation of intellectual property that led to seven issued patents and 18 others pending.

Research and support from ACE4S has even led to the pursuit of a start-up company focused on monitoring technology for early detection of heart attacks, a project representative of the research's feasibility and potential societal impact.

Ismail, who joined the Wayne State University faculty in 2016, has spent over 30 years in academia and industry, having worked in the United States, Canada, Sweden, Egypt, and UAE.