People – Electronics, MEMS & Nanoelectronics Systems Packaging Center (EMNSPC)

Dr. Dereje Agonafer, a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Distinguished University Professor of mechanical engineering at The University of Texas at Arlington. He heads two centers and is “Site Director of NSF IUCRC in Energy Efficient Systems” and Director of “Electronics, MEMS and Nanoelectronics Systems Packaging Center.” After receiving his PhD, he joined IBM in 1984 and in 1991 the value of his contribution to “Computer-Aided Thermal Engineering” was recognized by being awarded the “IBM Outstanding Technical Achievement Award in Appreciation for Computer-Aided Thermal Modeling.” Since joining UTA in 1999, he has graduated more than 220 students in his career, with 13 doctoral and 5 master’s students currently under his tutelage. His recent focus has been on data center cooling as “Site Director of NSF IUCRC in Energy Efficient Systems” and 3D packaging/cooling (patents filed). Professor Agonafer serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of an NSF Center, Mid-Infrared Technologies for Health and the Environment (MIRTHE) at Princeton University since 2007. He also serves on advisory boards at Princeton, Colorado, Howard and CCNY. He holds nine U.S. patents and six foreign patents and has published more than 230 papers, two books, and several book chapters. He is a Fellow of ASME and Fellow of The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Professor Agonafer has received numerous awards during his distinguished career including 2008 Thermi Award for “Significant Contributor to the field of semiconductor thermal management”, and the 2009 InterPACK Excellence Award for leadership in electronic packaging. Professor Agonafer was at MIT as a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Visiting Professor during the 2007 academic year. He has offered courses and given lectures and keynotes internationally including Chiba, Toyama, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Panang, Seoul, Taipei, Shanghai, Tokyo, Osaka, and Capetown, Tufts University, Northeastern University, MIT and Harvard. Professor Agonafer received the 2014 NSBE Golden Torch Award. In May 2014, he received the ITHERM Achievement, an award first instituted in 1996, and presented biennially in recognition of significant contributions made in thermal and thermomechanical management of electronics. In 2015, he received over 2 million dollars of servers from Yahoo and Cisco to build his data center lab and in 2019 he received prestigious Heat Transfer Memorial Award.

DOCTORAL STUDENTS

Abel Misrak