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HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES Yang explores the big and the small possibilities of the information revolution By Alvin Powell
The computer revolution is really just beginning, according to Professor Woodward Yang, with systems poised to become smaller, more portable, and found everywhere from traditional desktops to cell phones and pagers. Yang said researchers are close to putting a billion transistors on a chip – a thousandfold increase since the early 1990s – something that, even five years ago, seemed impossible. The advance means entire systems on a single chip are becoming feasible for the first time, meaning devices like cellular phones, pagers, and personal digital assistants will be able to do things like scan, manipulate documents, and send them electronically. " ‘System-on-a-chip’ is the new buzzword today," Yang said. "It’s really not that far away." Yang, promoted to Gordon McKay Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in July 1997, is doing his part to advance the computer revolution. Yang’s research is focused on making computers faster by making computer memory faster. Computer processors have leapt forward in speed, but the speed at which a computer transfers information in and out of its memory and makes it available to the processor has not kept pace. "When we had 20 megahertz 386 computers, the DRAM [dynamic random access memory] was running at about the same speed [20 megahertz]," Yang said. "Today we have a 600 megahertz Pentium III, and DRAM is running at 100 megahertz at best. There’s a big gap in speed." In addition to his work on memory, Yang is considered one of the nation’s foremost experts in computer chips used in photo, video, and other imaging applications. He has been working for the past four years on a low-cost imaging chip with Hyundai Electronics Industries, the electronics arm of Korean conglomerate Hyundai. The chip, which uses inexpensive existing technology to keep down costs, is licensed for use in a new computer camera by Kensington Technology Group. Venkatesh Narayanamurti, Dean of the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, said Yang fills an important role in the division because he is one of the few professors whose research focuses on computer hardware. "I think he’s a very unusual electrical engineer because he’s able to bridge many areas, from hard-core electrical engineering to device physics to computer algorithms," Narayanamurti said. Yang’s varied background combined with his collaborations with industry have given him a unique perspective that combines a theoretical viewpoint with a practical understanding of fabrication methods, according to R. Victor Jones, the Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics. "Woody is a world leader in development of imaging chips," Jones said. "He combines both the wherewithal to fabricate these devices and the understanding of their implications." Yang believes that the computer revolution is really just beginning. Though computers have been commonplace for some time, only recently have they become small enough and powerful enough to break out of their box-on-a-desktop niche, Yang said. "Now we can imagine building a lot of interesting things, if only we have the time to imagine and build them," Yang said. Though Yang has dedicated his life to making computers faster and smarter, he said he really doesn’t have a dream device in mind that would combine many advances in computerization. "I wouldn’t say there’s any particular ultimate device that I expect to come out of the information revolution," Yang said. "Actually, the exciting part about this revolution is that it is constantly surprising us by exceeding our wildest expectations and by defying all attempts to reasonably estimate its ultimate limits."Punch Cards and Magnetic Tape Computers were part of Yang’s upbringing in Novato, Calif. His father worked for IBM, writing software for their payroll, inventory, and accounting systems. "I grew up with magnetic tape and punch cards around the house," Yang said. Yang was attracted to computers while at the University of California at Berkeley because it was a growing, exciting field, he said. He received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science in 1984, and went to graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, receiving a master’s degree in 1987 and a doctorate in 1990, both in electrical engineering and computer science. He came to Harvard in 1990 as an assistant professor of electrical engineering. Yang began his computer career studying device physics and conductors and semiconductors – the material chips are made of. In search of more creative possibilities, he began to study circuit design. And, because miniaturization allowed more and more things to be crammed onto a chip, he also studied system design. Yang said he’s never had an interest in writing software – the instructions that tell the computer what to do – but said as chips get smaller and more complex, the software to run a system is becoming more of a factor in how the chip is designed. In addition to his work with Hyundai, which dates back to 1995, Yang has worked as a consultant at a variety of places, including M.I.T.’s Lincoln Laboratory. Jones described Yang as open and charming, saying he’s a good speaker and a popular lecturer. As an instructor, Yang likes to give students a broad appreciation of what’s going on in the world so they understand why they’re learning what they’re learning. Engineers, he said, need a broad foundation in the basics to help them keep up with changing technology. "What will get them a job today, won’t in four or five years," Yang said. "The technology moves too quickly."
Copyright 1999 President and Fellows of Harvard College |
