Dr. W. Robert Daasch,

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Research

Introduction

Researchis not for everyone but not because someone is not smart enough or does not know enough. After all at any point in time, at its core research is the investigation of what is unknown.

When research is going well you have all the friends in the world. Friends can make up for most of what someone does not know so long as you are comfortable with admitting what your don’t know and likewise comfortable asking questions. When research is going badly, it is very lonely. It is during the bad times when your passion for research is put to the test. My research mentors demonstrated to me that passion separates productive researchers from the also-rans.

A helpful reality check to track and to evaluate research progress is captured by four simple, practical questions. Each question demands its answer sooner rather than later. In a way the four questions address the age-old (and generally unhelpful) discussion about labeling a research effort as pure research or as applied research. If the answer to any of the questions goes much beyond 100 words it is likely time to stop and think rather than “doing something” or adding another 100 words.

• What is the problem to be solved?

• What are the system observables?

• Do the results describe the past behavior? Predict the future behavior of the system?

• What is the difference between making progress and going in circles?

In looking for answers the “Keep It Simple Stupid” principle seems to work more often than not.

Throughout your research, probably not more than once a month, expect to lose track of one or more the questions up above, the KISS principle or both. When this happens, your passion for the research has to come from within you otherwise distractions will dominate and your research progress will soon falter or disappear entirely.

Finally, two quotes which capture the importance of periodically taking the time to evaluate your research with thoughtful and deliberate reflection.

“Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.” Joseph Heller (1923-1999), American satirist, author ’Catch-22’

“Sometimes, I worry about being a success in a mediocre world.” Lily Tomlin (1939- ), American actress, comedian, and writer

Biographical Sketch

I received my Ph.D. in 1982 from the University of Washington in Quantum Electronic Structure Theory, a sub-discipline of Physical Chemistry. From 1982-1984, I was a Research Scientist (aka post-doc) at the University of Washington, Northwest VLSI Consortium. From 1984-1987, I was an Assistant Professor of ECE at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago IL. My post-doctoral position in the VLSI Consortium began the transition from physical science to engineering. To this day, the frequency and depth of the intersections between the two areas continues to amaze me. I joined the Portland State faculty in 1986 and in 1996 founded the Integrated Circuits Design and Test Laboratory. In 2017, I retired from my tenure position and hold the rank of Professor Emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The ICDT was shutdown in 2017.

Research Focus

I have retired as a tenured professor and hold the non-tenured rank of Professor Emeritus. In my role I no longer supervise graduate students. By taking a step back from leading a research team of graduate students, I describe my role in research today as one of an individual contributor.

My research emphasized areas in digital and analog integrated circuit design and test. In the test area, our work concentrated on design-for-test, test efficacy and reliability estimation. Of particular interest are the statistics of the test response of chips at wafer sort and final test. The research group had other projects in built-in-self-test and built-in-reliability circuitry so that the total system performance is robust to variations in process and environmental conditions.

Curriculum Vitae/Google Scholar

For completeness a few common bits of career information.

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Google Scholar Profile

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