Tsu-Jae King Liu
Co-Chair Northwest-AI-Hub
Tsu-Jae King Liu was born in Ithaca, NY and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She earned her B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1984, 1986 and 1994, respectively. She joined the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center as a Member of Research Staff in 1992, to research and develop polycrystalline-silicon thin-film transistor technologies for high-performance flat-panel display and imaging applications. During her tenure with Xerox PARC, she served as a Consulting Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. In August 1996 she joined the faculty of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), where she is now a Distinguished Professor of EECS. For her excellence in teaching and mentorship she earned the EECS Department's EE Division Outstanding Teaching Award in 2003, the UC Berkeley Distinguished Faculty Mentoring Award 2010, the Semiconductor Research Corporation Aristotle Award in 2016, and the IEEE Electron Devices Society Education Award in 2021.
Dr. Liu conducts research in advanced materials, fabrication processes, and devices for integrated circuits used for computing and memory. She has authored or co-authored over 560 publications and holds close to 100 patents. Her research has garnered many honors including the Ross M. Tucker AIME Electronics Materials Award (1992) for seminal work in polycrystalline silicon-germanium thin films, the DARPA Significant Technical Achievement Award (2000) for development of the FinFET (the transistor design used in all leading-edge computer chips today), the IEEE Kiyo Tomiyasu Award (2010) for contributions to nanoscale MOS transistors, memory devices, and MEMs devices, the Electrochemical Society Dielectric Science and Technology Division Thomas D. Callinan Award (2011) for excellence in dielectrics and insulation investigations, the Intel Outstanding Researcher in Nanotechnology Award (2012), the Semiconductor Industry Association University Researcher Award (2014), and the IEEE Aldert van der Ziel Award (2016).
Dr. Liu has served in a variety of administrative leadership roles throughout her career. From 2000 to 2004 and from 2006 to 2008, she served as the Faculty Director of the UC Berkeley Microfabrication Laboratory. From 2003 to 2004, she also served as Vice Chair for Graduate Matters in the EECS Department. In 2004-2006 she took industrial leave from the university to work as Senior Director of Engineering in the Advanced Technology Group of Synopsys, Inc. (Mountain View, CA). From July 2008 through June 2012 she was Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering. From July 2012 through June 2016 she was Chair of the Electrical Engineering Division, and from July 2014 through June 2016 she was Chair of the EECS Department. From July 2016 through September 2016 she served as Associate Dean for Academic Planning and Development in the College of Engineering. From October 2016 through June 2018 she served as UC Berkeley Vice Provost for Academic and Space Planning. Since July 1, 2018 she has led the College of Engineering as Dean and Roy W. Carlson Professor of Engineering. Her leadership also has garnered many honors including the Chang-Lin Tien Leadership in Education Award in 2020 and the IEEE Founder's Medal in 2024.
Dr. Liu is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE), a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and a member of the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame. She has served on committees for many technical conferences including the Device Research Conference, the International Conference on Solid State Devices and Materials, the International Electron Devices Meeting, and the Symposium on VLSI Technology, and she was a member of the IEEE EDS VLSI Technology and Circuits Technical Committee. She has served as Editor-in-Chief for IEEE Electron Device Letters, and as Vice President for Publications and Products for the IEEE Electron Devices Society. She is a past member of the IEEE Executive Committee of the Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits.
Dr. Liu presently serves as a member of both the U.S. Department of Commerce National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) Industrial Advisory Committee and the U.S. National Science Foundation Directorate for Engineering Advisory Committee. She is a Director of Intel Corporation and Maxlinear, Inc.