Visiting Professorship to enhance industrial experience at Southampton
Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) been granted a Royal Academy of Engineering Award (RAEng) to fund a Visiting Professor who will help enhance and strengthen their studentsâ employability after graduation.
Dr Ashish Darbari will provide a strong industrial contribution to Electronic Engineering and Computer Science programmes at the University of Southampton.
Ashish is a Principal Hardware Design Engineer at Imagination Technologies, in Hertfordshire, one of the worldâs leading semiconductor IP technology companies whose customers ship billions of PowerVR GPUs, MIPS CPUs, Ensigma RPU communications and other SoC technologies each year into some of the worldâs most iconic smartphones, tablets, and much more.
As a Visiting Professor he will bring with him a wealth of industry experience in the field of advance design verification.
During his three-year appointment Ashish will teach on undergraduate modules in electronic design and software engineering, define and mentor fourth year MEng Group Design Projects and MSc Individual Projects, mentor PhD students in the Electronics and Software Systems Research Group, and advise on refreshing teaching modules and programmes.
Professor Michael Butler, Associate Dean for Enterprise and Impact, welcomed Ashish to his new role. He said: âThe appointment of Ashish will serve to strengthen our studentsâ employability further by making direct technical contributions to teaching, by providing career mentoring to students and by increasing the opportunities for internships at Imagination.
âThe mentoring support he offers will help our students to identify and qualify for high-end engineering jobs, the teaching contribution will mean that students will have acquired additional knowledge and skills that can be applied immediately in industrial design environments in electronic design organisations such as Imagination and also in the wider embedded software systems industry.
âECS already has a very strong relationship with Imagination with 10 per cent of their graduate recruits coming from ECS each year. We hope that this Visiting Professorship will further strengthen this relationship and hopefully lead to more internship placements and PhD CASE studentships.â?
Ashish already has strong links with the University - he was a PostDoctoral Research Fellow at Southampton for four years and has strong links with the Electronic and Software Systems Research Group at ECS.
He said: âI started my professional career at Southampton after my Doctorate and have since benefitted a great deal through my interactions with the university both when I was an academic and when I moved into industry. At Imagination we are solving some of the most complex and diverse set of problems both in design and verification. I lead the Advanced Verification Methodology group where we are pioneering some of the most advanced verification methods, so thanks to the support from the RAEng and ECS I am looking forward to sharing some of our experiences with the students at Southampton through my new role.â?
The University hopes that the relationship will continue after the Professorship ends through building relationships with Ashishâs team and working with Imagination beyond the three years to ensure their programme modules remain refreshed and keeping pace with industry trends.