Graduate Student Researcher Receives Inaugural Spanos Semiconductor Manufacturing Award
Pranta Saha, a Ph.D. candidate in electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Davis, is among the recipients of the inaugural Costas John Spanos Semiconductor Manufacturing Awards, presented by the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute, or CITRIS.
The awards recognize exceptional graduate student researchers who are advancing the future of semiconductor devices, technology, design and manufacturing across the four campuses of CITRIS: UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Merced and UC Santa Cruz.
Established in honor of Costas John Spanos, CITRIS Director Emeritus and Andrew S. Grove Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley, the Spanos Awards encourage student-led research that addresses some of the most pressing challenges facing the semiconductor industry today.
"Although this is an individual award, people working in the manufacturing space know that it is a community effort built on relationships and trust,” Saha said. “I want to dedicate this recognition to all the staff, engineers, scientists, and managers running our nanofabrication facilities."
Saha works to advance scalable quantum technologies in semiconductor platforms, particularly silicon carbide. With his advisor, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Marina Radulaski, he designs novel nanophotonic structures integrated with solid-state single-photon sources, or color centers, and realizes them at scale by leveraging cutting-edge nanofabrication processes.
Saha is also passionate about engineering education; he co-designed UC Davis’s first quantum computing course and has helped expand laboratory modules in quantum sensing at multiple universities. He is affiliated with the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he has developed and refined etching recipes and process workflows, and he holds a bachelor’s degree with honors from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
“Semiconductor innovation sits at the foundation of nearly every major technological advance shaping our world today — from AI and advanced manufacturing to energy systems and national security,” said Alexandre Bayen, director of CITRIS and the Banatao Institute, Liao-Cho Innovation Endowed Chair and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley.
As global demand accelerates — driven by rapid advances in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and advanced manufacturing — awardees like Saha represent the next generation of innovators strengthening the resilience, competitiveness and impact of the semiconductor ecosystem.