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The backseat occupants are clamoring for Veggie Straws and Albanese gummies, so we are obliged to whip out the snacks again as “Take On Me” by A-ha blares through the speakers.
Our route takes us through the heart of Nashville, where we have no choice but to stop for pulled pork potatoes and some toe-tapping country music. Once we are in Texas, we take a little detour to visit the Stockyards in Fort Worth before heading south to Austin. With “Keep Austin Weird” as the city’s motto, it’s no wonder that we are inundated with funky restaurants, shops, and events. It has been over 30 hours of driving (with potty breaks and switching drivers) and the passengers have been clamoring to get to our destination.
Amidst all this hubbub, we finally drop in on Dr. Lisa Su, the president and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), a leader in the semiconductor industry.
Semiconductors, devices which pass electrical currents in certain directions, play an important role in the automation of lighting and HVAC systems. These are useful for energy conversion, amplification, and switching. In lighting, for example, semiconductors planted inside lights can detect how much light is needed at any given time, feeding this information back to the management system. According to AZOBuild,
“Smart thermostats rely on semiconductor sensors to measure temperatures and activate/deactivate heating systems as necessary…Semiconductors are incorporated into occupancy detection sensors which can feedback the number of people present in a space in real-time. This information is then used to trigger ventilation systems automatically when the occupancy reaches a certain level. This makes ventilation systems work more efficiently, reducing wasted energy and also improving the comfort of building occupants.”
So, it is not surprising that we are enamored with the companies and people integral to the production of these wonderful devices—they make BAS possible!
Dr. Lisa Su’s name may be familiar, as she has been featured in articles in Forbes magazine and CNN and was recently named Chief Executive magazine’s CEO of the year. Not only has she made a celebrated name for herself in business leadership, but her technological contributions to the field have included over 40 technical articles and an appointment to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Su was born in Taiwan but immigrated to America as a child, where she excelled in MIT’s electrical engineering Ph.D. program. While there, she became one of the first researchers to study silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology. SOI refers to a technique for increasing the efficiency of transistors by building them on layers of an insulating material.
Her technical expertise notwithstanding, Dr. Su’s major accomplishments in recent years have been more at the executive level.
According to Forbes, AMD’s stock rose 40-fold since Su took over, a feat touted as one of the greatest turnarounds in the industry. At a time when Intel was floundering and AMD itself was on the verge of bankruptcy, Su stepped up to the plate and hit a homerun with her plan to go all in on what the company was good at: high performing computer architecture such as processors and graphics chips. Her big bet paid off, not only bringing her company back from the shadows but casting it into the limelight, where AMD is now slated to garner at least half the data center market.
We admire the spirit of ingenuity Dr. Lisa Su demonstrated in her marriage of business acumen and technological savvy. As we bid farewell to the weirdness of Austin, we look forward to visiting the gold coast on the next leg of our journey.
KMC Controls is an independent and family-owned manufacturer of turn-key solutions based in New Paris, Indiana. For the last fifty years, KMC Controls has remained dedicated to the American ideals of quality and innovation, focusing on intuitive solutions created by responsive and supportive people.
Consider us your Building Geniuses® who are building geniuses, one blog post at a time! KMC is dedicated to inspiring interest in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Join us for the next several weeks as we learn more about Inspiring STEM Across America.
References:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/27/tech/lisa-su-amd-risk-takers/index.html
https://www.fastradius.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Semiconductor-Listing.jpg
https://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.ECAQoKcGEehsKY4e48mSbAHaE8&pid=Api&P=0&h=220
https://academicinfluence.com/people
https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/#innovators
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/future-tech-awards-2021-future-50
https://www.amd.com/en/corporate/leadership/lisa-su.html
https://www.forbes.com/profile/lisa-su/
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/27/tech/lisa-su-amd-risk-takers/index.html
https://www.technologyreview.com/2006/05/10/229145/found-in-translation/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_on_insulator