UM professor Ben U Seng Pan becomes the first Macao-educated scholar to be elevated to IEEE fellow

Prof Ben U Seng Pan from Synopsys (Macao) and the University of Macau (UM) Faculty of Science and Technology, who is the deputy director of the State Key Laboratory of Analog and Mixed-Signal VLSI, has been elevated to the fellowship of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for the year 2016, becoming the first scholar who was educated in Macao, who has developed his professional career both at  UM and in the local and global electronics industry, to be elevated to this prestigious fellowship. Prof U was nominated by IEEE Solid-State Circuit Society President-elect Prof Jan Van Spiegel from the University of Pennsylvania, and was strongly recommended by nine world-renowned IEEE fellows from academe and industry in Solid-State IC design field.

Of the 296 scholars who have been elevated to IEEE Fellow this year, less than 20 percent come from the Asia-Pacific region. Especially in IEEE Solid-State Circuit Society, there are eight successful elevations worldwide and Prof U is the only one from the mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao region to be elevated. Elevation to this fellowship follows an extremely rigorous evaluation process; less than 0.1 per cent of voting members are selected annually for this highest member grade elevation of IEEE. Only those with a significant contribution to the advancement of engineering, science and technology as well as a minimum of five years of IEEE senior membership and more than ten years of professional work experience, can apply for the elevation. Normally it takes multiple applications over several years for successful elevation. Prof U’s successful elevation upon first-time application shows international recognition of his leadership contributions to the analog circuit design, and microelectronics development in both academe and industry in Macao.

‘I am very honoured that I’m the first Macao-educated scholar to be elevated to IEEE fellow,’ Prof U says. ‘It is not only recognition of my more than 20 year of endeavours in the field of microelectronic in academe and industry; it also shows solid recognition of the world-class achievements of Macau microelectronics team. I’m really grateful to UM for its education, development opportunity and freedom, and great support, and also long-term dedication for scientific innovation research and product development from my colleagues of UM microelectronics State-Key Lab and also Synopsys Macau who are sharing the same dream and have been working alongside for so many years I hope my elevation will motivate the younger generation in Macao to devote themselves to scientific research, to pursue their dreams, and to rise onto the world stage with confidence.’

Prof U graduated from a local high school. He received a master’s degree in electrical and electronic engineering with highest honours from UM in 1997, and a joint PhD degree with highest honours from UM and the Instituto Superior Tecnico, Technical University of Lisbon, in 2002. He was the first from Macao to receive the Prize for Scientific and Technological Innovation from the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation, and the second-class State Scientific and Technological Progress Award. He was also the first from Macao to be named the ‘Scientific Chinese of the Year 2012’. He is currently an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer and serves on the Technical Program Committee of the IEEE International Solid State Circuit Conference (ISSCC) and the IEEE Asian Solid-State Circuits Conference (A-SSCC). He is also a member of the evaluation committee of the State Science and Technology Awards, and the Scientific and Technological Progress Award of the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation. He is also the co-founder and currently the general manager of Synopsys Macau Ltd.

The IEEE is the world’s largest professional association for the advancement of science and technology, with 400,000 members in over 160 countries. It is an international authoritative organisation in various fields, including space science, computer science, telecommunications, biomedical sciences, electrical products and consumer electronics. It publishes more than one third of the world’s publications in the fields of electrical and electronic engineering and computer science, and has established more than 1,000 industrial standards. IEEE Fellow is the highest level of membership of the IEEE. It is one of the highest honours that can be bestowed upon an individual by the institute, and shows recognition of a member’s technical, educational, and leadership achievements. Only a select few IEEE members can earn this prestigious honour.