Home : Volume 26 : Winter 2000 :
PARENTS' SECTION
Co-op student breaks speed limits in the Silicon Valley

Only three months into his eight-month cooperative education experience with Intel in Santa Clara, California, and ECE/computer science major Aaron Gavic was already in the headlines. Gavic's team in the microprocessor research lab used special cooling techniques to break the 1GHz speed barrier for a general purpose microprocessor. This was the first time the gigahertz (one billion cycles per second) frequency had been achieved in public on a standard microprocessor. The clock speed was demonstrated, using a 0.25 micron Pentium III processor, before an audience of 1,500 software and hardware developers and more than 100 reporters attending the Intel Developer Forum. The demonstration consisted of a system running a CPU speed meter which registered greater than 1 GHz clock speed, while running a Microsoft PowerPoint application.

Aaron Gavic (15K JPG)

"This was definitely a prototype machine," Gavic says. "The night before we were still enhancing it. Our goal was to push the limits of the technology and show where the future of microprocessors is headed. It was a very challenging and rewarding experience."

The Co-op/Internship Program is a service offered by the college's Engineering Career Services Office. Co-ops are at least one semester and one summer long; internships are summer-long. Both co-ops and internships are full-time professional level employment in which the student is supervised by an engineer.

Gavic's group within the microprocessor research lab worked primarily with prototype systems and demonstrations. "We did a lot of work for speeches, conferences and trade shows. We would show off what's happening within our lab and what Intel envisions five years down the road," says Gavic. "One of the main projects was a high-resolution display that was 10 feet by 8 feet. At 4,000 by 2,000 pixels it made a compelling demonstration."

This was Gavic's first visit to Silicon Valley. He says it was enlightening. Surrounded by hundreds of office cubicles, Gavic says he witnessed what it is like to be a developer on a day-to-day basis. He found the lab to be a nice break from his cubicle as well as a creative outlet.

"I worked with a lot of brilliant people devoted to cutting-edge projects. It was amazing to watch their work come to life," says Gavic. "Overall the experience answered many questions, but it raised many more. Attending conferences probably influenced me most. It offered opportunities to meet professionals working in many areas of technology."

As he works toward graduation in 2001, Gavic says his co-op experience has helped focus his studies. He plans to concentrate more on engineering than the computer science degree.

"Many at Intel started their careers as engineers. I want to build my foundation in engineering. I also like technical marketing and sales but for now the challenge really lies in the engineering," says Gavic. "This co-op has shown me what it's like to be an engineer in a large corporation. Besides the experience gained from my project work, I'd say what I learned from talking to people and making contacts has been just as valuable. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity."

Content by perspective@engr.wisc.edu

Date last modified: Thursday, 03-Feb-2000 10:00:00 CST

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