Mishra: Central Coast Innovation Award
Two College of Engineering faculty Umesh Mishra and Tyler Susko receive Innovation Awards at an annual awards event hosted by the Pacific Coast Business Times
Excerpt from the COE News article – "Innovation Awards for UCSB Professors" (full article)
Umesh Mishra, dean of the College of Engineering, professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, entrepreneur, and world-renowned expert on the semiconductor gallium nitride (GaN) and its role in power electronics, will receive one Innovation Award. Cadense, a company co-founded by Tyler Susko, an associate teaching professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department (ME) whose startup company, will also receive an award for its innovation in creating a shoe to aid people who experience foot drop.
Mishra, who became the eighth dean of the COE in 2023 after thirty-three years at UCSB, is a true innovator. He has co-founded two companies — Nitres, in 1996, the first to develop GaN-based LEDs and transistors. It was acquired by Cree, now Wolfspeed. Transphorm, his other company, was founded in 2007, specializes in GaN-based high-voltage power conversion applications, and has generated more than one thousand patents and applications. The company went public in 2020.
Mishra has brought that same innovative spirit to the dean’s office, generating new programs to benefit staff and faculty and continuing to serve as a friendly and approachable leader who is always ready to stop for a few words with faculty, students, or staff.
Learn about Susko's award: COE News – "Innovation Awards for UCSB Professors" (full article)
