IEEE Spectrum

David A. HodgesFormer dean of engineeringLife Fellow, 85; died 13 NovemberHodges, who was dean of engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, conducted pioneering research in IC design and semiconductor manufacturing. He coauthored the Analysis and Design of Digital Integrated Circuits textbook, which was used by universities around the world.An active IEEE volunteer, Hodges served in several leadership roles including 2007 vice chair of the IEEE Awards Board and 2011–2012 vice president of the IEEE Publication Services and Products Board. Under his leadership, the latter board celebrated milestones including the launch of IEEE’s first multidisciplinary open-access publication, IEEE Access; the creation of a Chinese-language edition of IEEE Spectrum; and the 100th anniversary of Proceedings of the IEEE.Hodges was the founding editor of IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing, and he served as editor of the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.He was largely responsible for moving the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in 1978 from Philadelphia to San Francisco.After earning his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1960 from Cornell, Hodges joined Bell Labs in Holmdel, N.J. There he conducted research on ICs for communications and saw the potential of metal-oxide semiconductors. He predicted that the technology would ensure the continuation of Moore’s Law. Compared with bipolar junction transistors, which were predominant in ICs then, MOS transistors are easier to scale and consume less power. Hodges and his colleagues pioneered the use of MOS technology in ICs.Hodges continued that line of research at UC Berkeley, which he joined in 1970 as a professor of engineering. He helped develop MOS analog-to-digital converters, expanding the use of the technology to industries including communications, signal processing, environmental sensing, and semiconductors.In 1983 he helped found the university’s Microfabrication Research Facility, known as Microfab. The facility was renamed the Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory in 2010.Hodges became dean of UC Berkeley’s engineering college in 1990. In the six years he worked in the position, he established a team to better manage external relations and completed fundraising for the engineering department’s Soda Hall, a classroom building. He also laid the groundwork for the university’s bioengineering department. He retired as professor emeritus in 1998.Known as a committed educator, Hodges supervised 27 doctoral students during his time at Berkeley.In 1988 he helped write Analysis and Design of Digital Integrated Circuits.He was inducted into the Silicon Valley Hall of Fame in 2013. He received several IEEE awards including the IEEE Education Society’s 1997 IEEE James H. Mulligan Jr. Education Medal and the 1983 IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award for pioneering work on switched-capacitor circuits.Hodges, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, earned master’s and doctoral degrees in EE from Berkeley in 1961 and 1966, respectively.Peter Bao-Sen LuhProfessor emeritus at the University of ConnecticutLife Fellow, 71; died 28 NovemberLuh was a professor of electrical and systems engineering at the University of Connecticut in Storrs from 1980 to 2020.