Student effort saves millions for company

An RIT engineering student is credited with helping a semiconductor firm save as much as $10 million a year.

Burcak Guclu

Burcak Guclu, fourth-year industrial and systems engineering major, helped develop an algorithm that improves computer-wafer fabrication yield at Infineon Technologies Richmond. Guclu and her group received Infineon’s Technical Excellence Award for significant technical contributions and solutions.

“I had the opportunity to work with very talented and professional engineers,” Guclu says of her on co-op job with the advanced process control group of the Virginia-based firm. “It was a very rewarding experience.”

“This project had a major impact not only for Infineon Technologies Richmond but for the whole memory products business division,” says Steven Ward ’88, Infineon’s director of statistical process and technology ramp, a graduate of RIT’s microelectronic engineering program. “The RIT co-op program has consistently provided highly motivated students who are able to work on main projects independently and as team players that has resulted in beneficial results for Infineon Technologies.”