When the robots and machines take over, as foretold by all from the Simpsons to the Terminator, they’ll probably use Syntiant chips.
Readers fascinated with the super-small semiconductors made by the Irvine tech firm featured in this week’s issue would do well to look at the work of H. Kumar Wickramasinghe, UCI Distinguished Professor and holder of the Nicolaos G. & Sue Curtis Alexopoulos Presidential Chair for Electrical Engineering & Computer Science.
Wickramasinghe is considered a pioneer in nanotechnology research and innovation and counts more than 100 patents to his name. He’s helped develop such technologies as the ‘vibrating-mode atomic force microscope,’ noted a release last week from UCI, where he’s been since 2006.
“Essentially, I am a tool builder,” said Wickramasinghe, also the Henry Samueli Endowed Chair in Engineering.
One more addition to those titles was announced last week; he’s been elected a fellow by the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, joining the likes of Isaac Newton, Christopher Wren, Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking. He’ll be formally inducted this July at an event in London.
For those who like to watch other people play video games, and those who are looking for good causes to attend, the Esports Arena in downtown Santa Ana is the place to be next weekend.
Goodwill of Orange County is entering into the world of online gaming with its inaugural Charity Invitational Esports Fundraiser at the busy venue in its hometown.
The event is set to feature “dozens of top-tier players from as far as Japan, Latin America, Europe, and Australia,” according to Goodwill, whose officials anticipate hundreds of in-person attendees and “tens of thousands of live viewers” streaming via Twitch. A fundraising goal wasn’t disclosed.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Street Fighter V Arcade Edition are the main games for the two-day event starting April 27.
Goodwill is working with two local esports events firms, 2GGaming and level up, to host the tourney.
Another suggested partner for attendees and esports players alike: Irvine’s Eyes4Lives, a startup whose software helps mitigate digital eye strain (see page 10).
A bit easier on the eyes is “I Love You This Much, Nonna,” a children’s book written by Chapman President Emeritus James Doti and illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. It came out last year and was feted by Kirkus Reviews as one of the “best indie children’s books of 2018.”
More could be on the way. Doti tells Business Journal Publisher Richard Reisman he’s “contemplating” writing a book about the history of Chapman, where he served as president for 25 years.
No word if the tome would feature Doti family recipes such as “Nonna’s Biscotti di Cannella,” which is included in the latest release.
