Jennifer Dworak
Assistant Professor of Engineering:
Engineering
Phone: +1 401 863 1531
Jennifer_Dworak@brown.edu
Jennifer Dworak's research focuses on the correctness and reliability of digital integrated circuits. Much of her work has involved the development of better test pattern generation techniques for improved identification of circuits containing manufacturing defects. She has done significant work on defect level modeling and is also currently investigating delay testing, design verification, and field failure rates due to undetected manufacturing defects or design errors.
Biography
Jennifer Dworak joined Brown University as an Assistant Professor in January 2005. She graduated in May 2004 with a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M University under the supervision of Prof. M. Ray Mercer. Her research interests include digital circuit testing and automatic test pattern generation, defective part level modeling, logic minimization, and design verification. She graduated summa cum laude from Texas A&M University with a B.S.E.E. in December 1998 and graduated with her M.S.E.E. from Texas A&M University in May 2000. She received a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship and was co-author for a paper that won the Best Paper Award at the 1999 VLSI Test Symposium. She was also the winner of the Best Student Presentation Award at the 2002 International Test Synthesis Workshop.
Interests
Jennifer Dworak's research lies in the realm of VLSI CAD, with specific emphasis on the testing and verification of digital integrated circuits. She has done significant work in the optimization of test pattern sets for manufacturing test by maximizing the number of observations of the otherwise least observed circuit sites. Her work has shown that the probability of exciting and detecting additional defects at a site (given that the site is observed) in circuits which have not yet failed any tests decreases exponentially as the number of previous observations of that site increases. She has incorporated this idea into a defective part level estimator for untargeted defects that does not rely on fault coverage. She has also introduced a metric called excitation balance which attempts to quantify the extent to which test sets are unbiased in their excitation. In general, the degree of excitation balance determines the effectiveness of additional site observations and thus the ability to detect additional defects. She is continuing work in automatic test pattern generation (ATPG) and is also investigating related topics such as the ability to detect unmodeled design errors in a design verification environment and the rate of field failures for circuits containing manufacturing defects that were not identified during testing. She is also investigating effective techniques for the improved detection of timing defects. Some of her other research interests include logic minimization and data structures for the efficient representation of logic functions.
Awards
National and International:
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, 2000 - 2003
Best Paper Award, VLSI Test Symposium, Dana Point, CA, 1999
Best Student Presentation Award, International Test Synthesis Workshop, March 2002
TTTC Naveena Nagi Award presented at the 2004 VLSI Test Symposium, April 2004
Texas A&M University Awards:
Ethel Ashworth-Tsutsui Memorial Award for Research, 2002 (generally one or two female Texas A&M graduate students chosen per year)
The Association of Former Students & the Office of Graduate Studies Distinguished Graduate Student Award, Texas A&M University, 2000
Best Presentation in Section, University Undergraduate Fellow, Texas A&M University, 1997-1998
Other Fellowships:
Computer Engineering Fellowship for Excellent Doctoral Students in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Texas A&M University, 2003-2004
Fouraker Graduate Fellowship in the Department of Electrical Engineering, 2000
Computer Engineering Scholarship for the Retention of Outstanding Graduates in the Department of Electrical Engineering, 2000
Ebensberger Graduate Fellowship in the Department of Electrical Engineering, 1999
College of Engineering Fellowship in the Department of Electrical Engineering, 1999
Texas A&M University President's Endowed Scholarship, 1994-1998
Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger Scholarship, 1994-1998
Affiliations
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
IEEE Computer Society
Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society
Eta Kappa Nu (Electrical Engineering Honor Society)
Tau Beta Pi (Electrical Engineering Honor Society)
Teaching
Since arriving at Brown in January 2005, Jennifer Dworak has taught undergraduate courses in digital system design and computer architecture (ENGN 1630 and 1640). She has also co-taught EN52: Electrical Circuits and Signals, an introductory sophomore level course, with Professor Benjamin Kimia. Finally, she has taught several graduate courses, including courses on the testing and verification of digital integrated circuits and on networks-on-chip.
