Intel Scholar, GEM Fellow: Ninrat Ditari

In the Spotlight provides an opportunity for Intel Scholars to meet, share experiences and establish connections with fellow technical students around the world. This month meet Ninrat.

Ninrat is a first year PhD student studying Electrical Engineering at Tufts University. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Masters degree in Computer Engineering from North Carolina State University. Ninrat is a GEM scholar and previous intern at the Intel Hudson site.

You recently completed an internship with Intel at the Hudson, Massachusetts site. What did you work on and how did you enjoy working in Hudson?

I worked at Intel Corporation’s Massachusetts Microprocessor Design Center where I was a Graduate Design Automation and Validation Co-op Engineer on the Design Automation tool team.

My internship provided exposure to multiple CAD tools, while solving problems on a daily basis. My co-op experience exceeded my expectations while providing the opportunity to work on next-generation Itanium® and Intel® Xeon® server microprocessor projects. I was selected as one of the three Intel GEM interns to present my internship work, "The Optimization of the Computer-Aided Design Tool Flow for Intel Xeon and Intel Xeon Microprocessor Server Designs", at the 2010 GEM Fellow Technical Presentation Competition that was held in Tyson's Corner, VA on August 10th and 11th. I was also granted the opportunity (offered to PhD candidates by the Intel Intern Program) to attend the 2010 Intel Developer Forum (IDF) to collaborate with cutting edge developers, gain considerable exclusive training, and to experience exposure to cutting-edge technology. I also participated as member of Innovation r-team "Comparison and integration of design systems" project.

My job responsibilities included:

    Resolving CAD tool performance issues in next-generation Itanium and Xeon server microprocessor projects
    Creating documentation for the IR-drop analysis flow
    Automated generation of power grid test case scenarios for early power analysis tool deployment
    Characterizing the standard library cells for the associated power library
    Creating a regression-based power dissipation comparator for functional unit block designs on projects
    Comparatively analyzing parasitic extraction capacitance tools for accurate tool deployment in both projects

Tell us about your experience at the Intel Developer Forum as an intern.

As an attendee at the 2010 Intel Developer Forum, I was able to collaborate with cutting edge developers, gain considerable exclusive training and to experience exposure to cutting-edge technology.

Specifically, I attended the "IDF for Academics" technical session track hosted by Intel Senior Fellow, Justin Rattner. The Academia Track gave me an inside look at the newest innovations, and key industry/academic collaborations. IDF also gave me a chance to see how academia influences tomorrow's technology and hear directly from top business leaders.

I attended 20+ technical session based on my interests including topics on Cloud Computing, Eco-Technology, Energy, Thermal and Mechanical Technology, Super Speed USB, Solid-State Drive Technology, Embedded Solutions and Intel® Atom™ Processor based Smartphones, Handhelds, Netbooks and Tablets.

I attended at least one session for each of my chosen academic tracks during the three days that I was at IDF. I also enjoyed the "Technology Showcase" at IDF. Being around so much cutting edge technology from Intel and their partners, I really felt like a little kid in a toy store.

How important is professional networking as an intern? What was your experience building your network?

Professional networking is very important to me. At Intel, I was able to partake in professional networking on a daily basis through the Network of Intel African American Employees (NIA), the New-Hire Network, and the Intern Program at Intel. I was also able to partake in formal and informal 1:1 conversations with fellow employees at Intel during my internship. Everyday provided networking opportunities for me.

How were mentors influential in your internship experience?

My mentors were great throughout my entire internship. They were knowledgeable and great at teaching new topics to me. They also provided great career advice and were very resourceful during my internship at MMDC. My mentors help provide an ideal learning environment to help me succeed while at Intel.

You had the opportunity to give a GEM technical presentation. Tell us about the experience.

I was selected as one of the three Intel GEM interns to present my internship work, "The Optimization of the Computer-Aided Design Tool Flow for Intel Itanium and Xeon Microprocessor Server Designs", at the 2010 GEM Fellow Technical Presentation Competition (Sponsored by the National Science Foundation – Science and Technology Center – Materials and Devices for Information Technology Research) that was held in Tyson's Corner, VA on August 10th and 11th. There were about 30 other GEM Fellows that participated in the competition.

What advice do you have for other Intel Scholars?

Talk to other interns and employees at Intel because they have been where you are trying to go. They can provide you with great advice that will help your career. There are a plethora of opportunities at Intel that are provides to all employees and interns. As an intern, you should strive to take advantage of every opportunity that you can.

I am inspired by a modern African proverb: "When you take the elevator to go up, you always must remember to send it back down". I would encourage every Intel Scholar to not only utilize positive insights and career advice from others, but don’t hesitate to also share your wisdom with the next generation.

What keeps you busy outside of work?

My hobbies include: cooking, playing/watching sports, playing the trumpet, developing Smartphone apps, creating websites, providing community service, and building/fixing computers.

How does your work today help you to become one of the Sponsors of Tomorrow?

The Massachusetts Microprocessor Design Center (MMDC), the largest engineering group on the Hudson campus, does microprocessor design and development for Intel's Enterprise Products Group. The MMDC is developing the next generation family of Itanium® microprocessors for high end servers. These servers are currently used for practical applications such as weather prediction, oil exploration, social networks, genomics research, financial analysis, medical imaging, digital content, design simulation, cloud computing, and data center refresh. With the growing use of high end servers, my work will impact multiple domains and the people around the world that utilize them for daily tasks.