The Electronic Design Automation (EDA) Consortium and IEEE Council on EDA (CEDA) announced that Dr. Phil Kaufman Award, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Synopsys, Aart de Geus, has been chosen as this year’s recipient of the Phil Kaufman Award for Distinguished Contributions to EDA. The EDA Consortium and Council on EDA will present the Award to Dr. de Geus on October 29, 2008, at its 15th annual Kaufman Award dinner and ceremony in Santa Clara. Dr. de Geus has received many technology awards including being named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in January 1999.

He was also honored for pioneering the commercial logic synthesis market with the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society Industrial Pioneer Award in 2001, as well as for his “contributions to, and leadership in, the technology and business development of Electronic Design Automation” with the 2007 IEEE Robert N. Noyce Medal. Dr. de Geus is active in the business community as a member of the board of Applied Materials, Silicon Valley Leadership Group, TechNet, the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA; formerly FSA), and as Vice-Chairman of the EDA Consortium.

He is also a active leader in education and community support, having created the Synopsys Outreach Foundation, which has promoted project-based science and math learning throughout Silicon Valley since 1999. Dr. de Geus was former Chair and a current board member of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, and was also the recipient of its “Spirit of Silcon Valley Lifetime Achievement Award.”