IEEE Solid-States Circuits Magazine - Fall 2019 - 68

The technical program featured
16 invited talks with a good variety of participants from academia
and industry.
As part of the ICNF social program, attendees had the opportunity to go to Old Town and visit

the history museum at Neuchâtel Castle. A specia l tour of the
Inter nat iona l Watch Museum
followed.
T he conference at tracted 82
participants and 101 papers were
accepted.

-Taekwang Jang
Chair, SSCS Switzerland Chapter
-Michel Bron
Vice-Chair, SSCS Switzerland Chapter
-Mathieu Coustans
Secretary, SSCS Switzerland Chapter

OSU Wins Its First Title at SOCCER

The sixth annual Soccer and Circuits Collaboration and Education
Retreat (SOCCER) was held in Mt.
Shasta, California, from 21 to 23 September 2018. Since its inception in
2013 by founding professors Un-Ku
Moon [Oregon St ate Universit y
(OSU)] and Boris Murmann (Stanford
University), the retreat has become
a marquee event that graduate students and faculty from both schools
eagerly look forward to [1]. It offers
the chance for research groups to
flex their circuit design and soccer
muscles as well as giving everyone a chance to unwind after the
often-stressful summer tapeouts,
testings, and paper submissions to
the IEEE International Solid-State
Circuits Conference. It also affords
graduate students (especially new
ones) an opportunity to interact
with professors and colleagues in
a relaxed social setting and form
strong connections.
L o c ate d appr ox i m ate l y m id w ay between the two campuses,
Mt. Shasta is a six-hour drive from
OSU and Stanford. Aside from its
equidistant location, the ski town
of Mt. Shasta was chosen because
of its incredible natural scenery and
abundant hiking opportunities. The
research groups arrived on Friday
evening, and, after everyone checked
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MSSC.2019.2939439
Date of current version: 18 November 2019

FA L L 2 0 19

in, students and professors congregated in the hotel lounge for an
evening of socializing and networking. Moon and Murmann were joined
by Prof. Amin Arbabian (Stanford),
P rof. A r un Nata raja n (OSU), and
Prof. Matthew Johnston (OSU) along
with members of their respective
research groups. Veterans of the
event immediately picked up conversations from where they left off
the previous year, while newcomers
were introduced and given a taste
of what was to come. Discussions
ranged from experiences of graduate school and research, to sports,
food, and hobbies. The exchange of
ideas and stories continued well into
the early morning hours.
Following breakfast the following day, students displayed their
posters and shared their research. A
total of 17 posters covering a range
of topics were shown. Although the
focus was on analog and mixed-signal circuit design, the scope of the
research presented has grown to
include areas such as sensor design,
fabr ication a nd pack ag ing techniques, machine learning, and 3D
printed systems. The presentations
and discussions were engaging and
lively. Having satiated their intellectual appetites, the researchers
started toward Shastice Park, eager
to display their athletic abilities and
lay claim to the coveted Boomerang
Trophy [1].

IEEE SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS MAGAZINE

The researchers donned the 2018
edition of the custom-designed jerseys representing their school colors and laced up their cleats for a
warm-up game, with OSU in orange
and Stanford in cardinal red. Having won the competition ever y
year si n ce its inception in 2013,
Stanford was the clear and obvious
favorite [1]. However, in the past
two years, their margins of victory
have decreased, and there was a
feeling that OSU might give them
a proper fight. The warm-up game
was evenly poised until the final
moments when Stanford scored and
won a 1-0 victory.
After a brief break, the title
match commenced, and the first few
minutes suggested that Stanford
would run away with the title yet
again, as their quick and methodical forwards generated numerous
scoring chances. However, after the
OSU defense weathered the initial storm, they collected themselves
and played solidly for the remainder of the game. Newcomer Hayden
Bialek of OSU did a fantastic job in
the midfield. With his footwork and
defense-splitting passes, he proved
to be too much for Stanford and
inspired OSU to an 8-2 victory. The
resounding victory was OSU's first
championship in the two schools'
competition.
After some lengthy celebrations, the
groups made their way to a postmatch

IEEE Solid-States Circuits Magazine - Fall 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Solid-States Circuits Magazine - Fall 2019