NSF CAREER awardee Xiaodong Yan creates brain-like computer chip
Xiaodong Yan, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and materials science and engineering, develops energy-efficient computer chips that mimic the human brain.
With support from a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, Xiaodong Yan, Frank L. and Daphna Lederman Professor, is creating a neuromorphic, or brain-inspired, computer chip that eliminates energy-intensive data transfers and advances AI toward higher-level thinking.
With the $599,980 award, Yan – who joined the departments of materials science and engineering and electrical and computer engineering as an assistant professor in 2023 – is creating moiré synaptic transistors, which mimic the region of the human brain that combines memory, logic and parallel processing.
Conventional computer chips consume enormous amounts of energy constantly transferring data between different areas devoted to either processing or memory storage. Yan is leveraging quantum mechanics to develop materials that simultaneously process and store information in the same location, just like a human brain. The chips can handle AI tasks, including associative learning, with much greater speed and energy efficiency.
“This breakthrough is the result of years of teamwork involving advanced materials preparation, nanofabrication and innovative testing methods,” Yan said.