RIT Engineering Major Helps Firm Save Millions in Costs

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Computer-wafer fabrication technology increases yield, saves up to $10 million with help from RIT student, Burcak Guclu.

A Rochester Institute of Technology engineering major is credited with helping a semiconductor manufacturer save up to $10 million a year during a cooperative education stint.

Burcak Guclu, fourth-year industrial and systems engineering major, was part of a team that developed an algorithm that increases computer-wafer fabrication yield by 1 percent for Infineon Technologies Richmond. Guclu’s group received the company’s Technical Excellence Award for significant contributions and solutions.

"This project had a major impact not only for Infineon Technologies Richmond but for the whole memory-products business division," says Steven Ward, director of statistical process and technology ramp at Infineon Technologies.

RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering is one of the nation’s top 10 engineering colleges, and its industrial and systems engineering program is among the nation’s top five. RIT has one of the nation’s oldest and largest cooperative education programs.

"The RIT co-op program has consistently provided highly motivated students who are able to work independently and as team players," says Ward, a 1988 RIT graduate.

"I was treated like a full-time employee at Infineon Technologies," Guclu says of her work with the advanced process control group of the Virginia-based firm. "I had the opportunity to work with talented and professional engineers on various projects. It was a very rewarding experience." Guclu, 22, is a native of Istanbul, Turkey.

"Burcak is to be congratulated for her work with Infineon Technologies," says Jacqueline Mozrall, associate professor and department head of industrial and systems engineering. "It’s wonderful to see our students apply their knowledge and skills to improve processes in the semiconductor industry."

Note: Digital photograph available

Note: According to a national survey by U.S. News & World Report, RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering ranks sixth in the nation among undergraduate and graduate engineering programs, offering degrees in computer, electrical, industrial and systems, mechanical, and microelectronic engineering, applied statistics and engineering science. RIT was the first university to offer undergraduate degrees in microelectronic and software engineering.

Founded in 1829, RIT has one of the nation’s oldest and largest cooperative education programs. The engineering college is named for Kate Gleason, the first female bank president in the United States and daughter of William Gleason, founder of what became Rochester-based Gleason Corp. Kate Gleason was America’s first woman engineering student and the first woman elected a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

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