Vidya Chhabria

Vidya Chhabria owes her interest in semiconductor technology to watching computers evolve from large, clunky and slow machines to the advent of smartphones. She finds it particularly captivating that while consumers demand faster processing power from smaller devices, engineers continue to deliver to meet these desires.

“The progress of the semiconductor industry has been nothing short of mesmerizing to me,” Chhabria says. “The opportunity to contribute to designing chips that can meet today’s heavier-than-ever-before computing demands excites me.”

She will join Arizona State University as an assistant professor of electrical engineering in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, one of the seven schools in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at ASU, from the University of Minnesota, where she graduates with her doctorate in November.

As a doctoral student, Chhabria won a University of Minnesota Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. This competitive program offers funding and support to high-achieving students. She also won a best paper award at the 2021 International Conference on Computer-Aided Design.

In her new role, Chhabria is excited to explore how technological advances in machine learning can help design very large-scale integrated (VLSI) computer chips — chips made with large numbers of electronic devices, namely transistors, on a single chip — and vice versa.

Chhabria was attracted to ASU because of what she considers a large number of researchers who work in complementary fields to hers. She looks forward to collaborating with them to solve large-scale, challenging real-life research problems.

“I believe that ASU will be a perfect place for me to grow, have a successful career as a female researcher, and I hope to be an inspiration to the next generation of young scientists,” Chhabria says.

She will teach a graduate-level VLSI design class, in which students will be able to learn the basics of designing and analyzing integrated circuits. The course will also teach how to build a digital computer chip from design to implementation, which Chhabria says will leave her students well-prepared for a career in chip design.

When not teaching or conducting research, Chhabria enjoys running, traveling and playing basketball.

Meet the newest faculty members of the Fulton Schools of Engineering here.

Written by TJ Triolo