2005 Simon Karecki Award Presented

Richard Karecki, Ana Karecki, Subramanian Tamilmani,University of Arizona, and University President Peter Likins

February 24, 2005 -- The 2005 Simon Karecki Award was presented to Subramanian Tamilmani at the CEBSM Review at the University of Arizona. The award is funded by the Simon Karecki Endowment and was presented by Dr. Farhang Shadman, director of the CEBSM, and Simon’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Karecki.

The following is the text from presentation made by Dr. Shadman.

This is the fourth presentation of the Simon Karecki Award. This Award is given in memory of Dr. Simon Karecki who was a student in this Center and an SRC Fellow. Friends and colleagues of Simon have come together to create the Simon Karecki Fellowship Fund in memory of an outstanding young man and researcher and as a way to encourage other talented young researchers in the pursuit of environmental research.

Before I present this year's Simon Karecki Award, I would like to recognize those members of the Advisory Board who are present today: Reed Content, AMD, Ken Aitcheson, BOC Edwards, Rafael Reif, MIT, and Tim Dalton, IBM, and from the SRC, Tim Wooldridge. I would also like to take this opportunity to urge you as individuals to participate in the building of the Simon Karecki Fund. And we especially need the help of those of you representing companies to strongly encourage corporate donations. Any member of the Governing Board will be glad to discuss possibilities with you and tell you how to direct your funds. A brochure is available at the registration desk for you to take back to your company.

On behalf of the ERC, SRC, and the Karecki Advisory Board, it is a great pleasure to present the 2005 Simon Karecki Award to Subramanian Tamilmani.

Subbu is pursuing his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Arizona. His main research project is in the electrochemical treatment of CMP wastewater. He has been studying the use of boron doped diamond electrodes for the removal of dissolved copper as well as organic compounds in CMP waste water. Subbu has also been working to find environmentally benign inhibitors for copper CMP in peroxide as well as hydroxylamine based systems. As testament to his desire to share his research findings, Subbu has published three papers in journals and five in conference proceedings.

In addition to his research work with the Center, Subbu has demonstrated his concern for the environment by working with the NSF/Research Experience for Undergraduates Program and the RET Program for high school teachers. He has also been involved with several science fairs. He has a passion for the area of "green manufacturing" and talks about it at every opportunity, and he has worked with other students to prepare demonstrations on copper plating for elementary and high school students.

It is the decision of the Advisory Board that Subramanian Tamilmani is eminently well qualified to receive 2005 Simon Karecki Award. We are very fortunate to once again have Mr. and Mrs. Karecki with us today; it is a distinct honor for us to have them here, and we would like to ask them to present the 2005 Simon Karecki Award.