IEEE Circuits and Systems Magazine - Q3 2023 - 3

Interview
An Interview With Gene Frantz, Innovative Thinker and Father of DSP
I
n May of 2023, Fan Chen, the associate editor of IEEE
CAS-M, had a wonderful opportunity to interview
Gene Frantz, an innovative thinker and the Father of
DSP by many in the industry.1 During this interview, Gene
shared numerous historic stories in DSP, his incredibly
inspiring life journey, and offered valuable suggestions
for the younger generation. We
have compiled this interview into
eight thought-provoking questions,
hoping that our CAS readers will
both enjoy and benefit from it.
Gene Frantz's Short Bio
Gene Frantz is a Professor in the
Practice at Rice University and a
Founder of Octavo Systems, a company
focused on heterogeneous
integration (HI) using System in
Package (SiP) technology. Prior to
joining Rice University and Octavo
Systems, he spent his career as a
Systems Engineer at Texas instruments,
where he retired in 2013 as
its Principal Fellow. He also advises
various companies as they take on
new applications of semiconductor
technology. He is a member of the
NAE, a Fellow of the IEEE, holds 60 patents in memories,
speech, consumer products, DSP, and SiP technology.
He has written more than 100 papers and articles and
has presented at universities and conferences worldwide.
He received the B.S.E. degree from the University
of Central Florida in 1971, the M.S.E.E. degree from
Southern Methodist in 1977, and the M.B.A. degree from
Texas Tech University in 1982. Upon graduation with his
B.S.E. degree, he joined the U.S. Army in 1972, where he
was assigned to the Army Communications Command.
After his time in the Army, he began his career at Texas
Instruments Calculator Division as a Product Engineer.
1https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/inventors-at-work/9781430245063/
9781430245063_Ch01.xhtml
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MCAS.2023.3302181
Date of current version: 11 October 2023
Question 1: Can you share with our readers your early
memories and how they influenced your decision to
pursue electrical engineering as your major? Were there
specific experiences or subjects that sparked your interest
and developed your creativity in this field?
Gene Frantz: What comes to mind
are a couple of examples of my
father and mother's influence on
my decision to pursue a career
in engineering. My father was an
electronic technician working for
Boeing. In his workshop he had an
electronics area. I learned to sort
resistors (learned the color code
by nine years old), test radio and
TV vacuum tubes. Much of my play
time was spent with my father in
the workshop. What he saw in me
was a teachable attitude. I was
bored at school. Rather than do
my work in class I would stare out
the window and dream. My mother
told the story of getting a note from
my teacher stating that " I just sat in
class starting out the window. " My
mother replied that " perhaps he's
thinking great thoughts. " The teacher replied " no, he is
just staring. " What she saw in me was creativity rather
than boredom. Both my father and my mother gave me
the freedom to pursue a path which allowed me to be
creative.
When asked, I explain that " I am my most creative
when I am my most ignorant. " Ignorance has no bounds
whereas knowledge tends to limit creativity. From my
perspective, well-educated engineers are ready to list
reasons why something can't be done. Their list limits
creativity. I see their list as a list of breakthroughs that
need to happen. Let me take a moment to summarize my
thoughts on creativity with five statements:
1) Knowledge: knowing the right answer.
2) Intelligence: asking the right question.
3) Creativity: asking the question for which there is
no answer.
THIRD QUARTER 2023
IEEE CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS MAGAZINE
3
https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/inventors-at-work/9781430245063/9781430245063_Ch01.xhtml https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/inventors-at-work/9781430245063/9781430245063_Ch01.xhtml
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