Boning appointed to Lebel Professorship

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Duane Boning has been named the Clarence J. LeBel Professor of Electrical Engineering. The chair is named for Clarence Joseph LeBel ‘26, SM ‘27, who co-founded Audio Devices in 1937, and was a pioneer in recording discs, magnetic media for tapes, and in hearing aids and stethoscopes.

“Boning’s teaching is recognized as outstanding at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and he is a leader in the field of manufacturing and design,” said EECS Department Head Anantha Chandrakasan, the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering. “This is fitting recognition of his outstanding contributions to research, teaching, mentoring, and service.”

Boning’s research focuses on manufacturing and design, with emphasis on statistical modeling, control, and variation reduction in semiconductor, MEMS, photonic, and nanomanufacturing processes. His early work developed computer integrated manufacturing approaches for flexible design of IC fabrication processes. He also drove the development and adoption of run-by-run, sensor-based, and real-time model-based control methods in the semiconductor industry. He is a leader in the characterization and modeling of spatial variation in IC and nanofabrication processes, including plasma etch and chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP), where test mask design and modeling tools developed in his group have been commercialized and adopted in industry. Boning served as Editor in Chief for the IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing from 2001 to 2011, and was named a Fellow of the IEEE for contributions to modeling and control in semiconductor manufacturing in 2005.

In addition to creating a graduate manufacturing process control subject, 6.780J/2.830J, he has lectured in several core EECS subjects, including 6.003 and 6.001, and is also an outstanding recitation and laboratory instructor. His teaching has been recognized with the MIT Ruth and Joel Spira Teaching Award. Professor Boning won the Best Advisor Award from the MIT ACM/IEEE student organization in 2012 and the 2016 Capers and Marion McDonald Award for Excellence in Mentoring and Advising in the School of Engineering.

Boning served as Associate Head from Electrical Engineering in the EECS Department from 2004 to 2011. He has previously and presently serves as Associate Director in the Microsystems Technology Laboratories, where he oversees the IT and CAD services organization in MTL. He is a long-standing and active participant in the MIT Leaders for Global Operations program. Since 2011, he has served as the Director for the MIT/Masdar Institute Cooperative Program, fostering many joint activities between MIT and Masdar Institute. From 2011 through 2013, he served as founding Faculty Lead in the MIT Skoltech Initiative, working to launch the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech). Within MIT, Duane has served on several Institute Committees, including as chair of the Committee on Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid (CUAFA) in 2007, and he will serve as chair of the Committee on the Undergraduate Program (CUP) in 2016-2017.