People : Professor I. Renan Turkman

As you may know, Professor Ibrahim Renan Turkman had a tragic accident in March 2001 and has been hospitalized since then on a long-term disability.

Dr. Turkman has been a Professor in the Department of Microelectronic Engineering and the Department of Electrical Engineering at RIT since 1984. He has taught undergraduate and graduate level courses related to the physics and processing of semiconductor devices. His commanding knowledge of the subject combined with superb teaching made him one of the most revered teachers at RIT. Students simply looked forward to his classes. He did not need notes to teach from, the subject simply came from his thorough understanding of the material. His teaching evaluations have been consistently on the top and he was nominated for the institute's prestigious Eisenhart Award for Outstanding Teaching almost each time. He developed advanced semiconductor processes and test facilities at RIT and advised graduate students in research. He was often invited for consultation and for teaching courses by leading semiconductor companies including Motorola and National Semiconductor where he also spent time on sabbaticals.

His influence on students for learning his favorite subject is immensely missed. We wish to keep his legacy alive, i.e. encouraging students to learn, as he would have wanted by instituting a scholarship in his name, the "Prof. I. Renan. Turkman Scholarship". The scholarship is awarded to the student demonstrating top performance in the understanding of the physics of semiconductor devices through academic performance and a seminar presentation each year. His family has also expressed their desire to establish this scholarship to honor his accomplishments, knowledge and love for his students.

Dr. Turkman received his Ph.D in Electronics in 1980 from Laboratoire d'Automatique et d'Analyse des Systemes du C.N.R.S, France. In 1981, Dr. Turkman joined the Department of Electrical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.

Prof. I. Renan Turkman Scholarship Fund

We have created an endowed scholarship that will allow us to use the interest income for the scholarship without reducing the capital. RIT requires a certain minimum to establish and administer an endowment fund. We have received donation pledges from a number of colleagues, alumni and family friends. This is an appeal to all former students / colleagues of Professor Turkman with the hope of raising this fund.

Please join us in building this memorial to an educator who dedicated his entire career to his students, to an extremely modest and humble person with superlative intelligence.

Your contribution is fully tax deductible. You can make your gift - online, by phone or by mail. Checks can be made out to The Professor I. Renan Turkman Scholarship Fund at RIT and mailed to us. Your gift is also eligible for any matching contributions by your employer.

The scholarship is awarded annually to a student demonstrating outstanding knowledge and interest in the field of semiconductor devices and technology. The award consists of a certificate and we would like to award cash prize from this endowment once it reaches its goal. Nominations are invited by the scholarship committee and the winner is chosen and announced at the Annual Microelectronic Engineering Conference.

Professor Turkman Scholarship Winners

2006 - Robert Manley

Robert Manley graduated from the Microelectronic Engineering program in May 2004 with high honors. His undergraduate education focused heavily on MEMS technology. In the 2002, he attained co-op experience at Intergraded Nano-Technologies in Rochester, NY on early development of intergraded DNA sensors. In 2003 and 2004 his experience was further enhanced at Sandia National Laboratories, in Albuquerque, NM, where he work on such projects as understanding microtubule movement in MEMS systems, analytical ionization detectors for combustible agents, and monolithic integration of sensors for lab-on-a-chip applications.

Robert's current research area is in thin-film transistors for LCD applications. He is doing much development and modeling of devices that use highly crystalline semiconductor films on glass substrates. He is current working towards his Ph.D. degree in Micorsystems Engineering and RIT.

2005 - Michael Aquilino

Michael Aquilino received his B.S. degree with highest honors in Microelectronic Engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology in May 2004. Through advanced placement credits and an aggressive course schedule, he was able to complete the 5 year program in 4 years. He is currently working towards an M.S. degree in Microelectronic Engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology, with an anticipated graduation in May 2006. He joined ATMEL Corporation in the Summer/Fall of 2002 at their ASIC Design Center in Columbia, MD as a Co-op student, where he worked on IC layout and characterization of 0.18 um CMOS core logic and I/O cells. From Summer 2003 to Spring 2004, he worked at Integrated Nano-Technologies in Henrietta, NY as a Co-op student, where he did fabrication development for a portable DNA detection system.

Michael's research interests include deep-submicron device engineering and advanced CMOS process integration. He is currently developing high performance 0.25 um transistors at the Rochester Institute of Technology for his Master's Thesis.

2004 - Reinaldo Vega

Reinaldo Vega received the B.S. degree with honors in Microelectronic Engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology in May 2004, and will begin working towards the M.S. degree in Microelectronic Engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology in September 2004. He joined Integrated Nano-Technologies in Rochester, New York during Summer/Fall of 2001 as a Co-Op student, working on fabrication development for prototype DNA detection devices. During Summer/Fall of 2002, he worked as a Co-Op student at IBM in East Fishkill, New York, where he performed an extensive analysis of RF MEMS and alternative power generation techniques, and worked on copper thru-plated inductors, MIM capacitors, and performed exploratory work on an LCD-based RF switch. He returned to IBM for Summer/Fall of 2003 as a Co-Op student, where he worked on SOI device characterization of thermal diodes, FETs, and electrically programmable fuses (e-FUSE) at the 90nm technology node. During Spring of 2004, he performed a NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates, working on a multi-valued logic test setup, fabrication/circuit design for resonant interband tunnel diodes, and assistance in co-ordination and implementation of the 2004 NSF sponsored Nanotechnology and MEMS Education Workshop.

Reinaldo's primary research focus is in Schottky Field Effect Transistors (SFETs) and the integration of Schottky CMOS into 3D circuitry. For his work in SFETs, he received First Place at the 2004 RIT IEEE Student Design Contest. His extracurricular interests include computers, auto racing, and cosmology.

2003 - Stephen Sudirgo

Stephen Sudirgo was born at Semarang, Indonesia in 1977. His interest in electronics started early on during the middle school years as he built various simple circuits like a pocket radio and audio-amplifier using discrete components. He graduated from the Kolose Loyola High School in 1995, majoring in physical sciences. Building upon this passion, he decided to pursue higher education at the department of Microelectronic Engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, in the Fall 1995. As a part of the BS program, Stephen attained year and a half of co-op experience at Fairchild Semiconductor, South Portland, ME, Lucent Technologies, Reading, PA, and CVC Inc, Rochester, NY. He received the B.S. degree with high honors and M.S. degrees in Microelectronic Engineering in 2000 and 2003, respectively. His M.S. thesis work under the guidance of Dr. Santosh Kurinec consisted of integration studies of tunnel devices with CMOS supported by the National Science Foundation. His work is presented and published in various conferences and referred technical journals.

He is an active student member of the IEEE and Electron Device Society. He was the secretary of the RIT student branch for 2002-2003 academic years, and currently serves as the member of the executive committee.

2002 - Charles J. Gruener

A graduate of the Microelectronic Engineering program at RIT, Charles received his B.S. degree with high honors in 2002 as the top graduate in his class. College AP credit and an accelerated course schedule made it possible for him to receive this distinction in four years instead of the standard five. While working towards his degree, he worked as a tutor in the college's Math Lab, providing free assistance to students who were having trouble in any of their math related coursework. Later, he was hired as the Department of Microelectronic Engineering's Maskmaking Engineer as well as the System Administrator, all while still working towards his B.S. degree. His co-op experience was achieved at Fairchild Semiconductor in South Portland, ME, and as a Research Assistant for Dr. Lynn Fuller in the Department of Microelectronic Engineering at RIT. He plans to start pursuing his M.S. in Microelectronic Engineering in the Fall of 2002.

Charles was a student of Dr. Turkman's for all of his Device Physics classes and was in Dr. Turkman's Advanced CMOS Back End Processing class when his tragic accident occurred.