Message from the Program Chair

t is exciting to be a microelectronic systems educator considering the enormous impact of microelectronic engineers on a wide range of human endeavors. MSE fills a critical niche in enabling microelectronic systems educators to share in this excitement and exchange ideas on how to best prepare future microelectronics engineers. We challenge each other and our students to ever greater contributions. MSE’05 fulfills this mission by attracting valuable intellectual contributions from around the world and by providing a rare venue for microelectronic systems educators to focus on connecting with each other. Once again, MSE has a powerful lineup of invited speakers, technical papers, posters, and industry participants. Invited speakers include Reiner Hartenstein, University of Kaiserslautern; Mani Srivastava, University of California, Los Angeles; and Ralph Cavin, Semiconductor Research Corporation. Technical papers and posters from around the world provide useful examples and tools for improving microelectronics curricula, intensive teaching of system-on-a-chip (SoC) design, advancing the use of FPGAs, developing university and industry partnerships, teaching design verification, and the using system-level design tools. This will be the second year for an EDA panel session with representatives from top EDA vendors focused on improving the utilization and effectiveness of EDA software in the university environment. I thank the program committee (PC) for their diligence in identifying the highest quality papers for MSE’05 and for providing feedback for refinement of those papers. Each PC member reviewed from four to six papers, providing their comments and evaluations anonymously through an electronic conference management system. This enabled the organizing committee to efficiently select excellent papers that will be of the greatest interest to MSE participants. MSE will meet again in 2007, with paper submissions due in January 2007. Please consider how you might contribute to the ongoing vitality of MSE through future papers, serving on the program committee, and helping with the organization of MSE.