Cadence Design Systems Inc. and its CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, have made significant gifts of $3 million each to support Carnegie Mellon University faculty members working in computer-related fields.

Cadence, a leading multinational company in the electronic design automation industry, has created the Cadence Design Systems Endowed Chair in Computer Science. Tan and his wife, Ysa Loo, have created the Tan Family Endowed Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). Together, the gifts total $6 million, which will provide funding to advance faculty members' activities, including research and teaching.

"Exceptional people with pioneering ideas have fueled Carnegie Mellon’s game-changing research and education from the very beginning, so investing in human capital development is one of the most important ways that we can retain our global leadership," CMU President Farnam Jahanian said. "Endowed professorships provide a singularly powerful tool to support these bright minds, and we are grateful to Cadence, Lip-Bu and Ysa for their exceptional generosity toward this critical priority."

Cadence's products are used by electronic systems and semiconductor companies to create innovative and transformational end products. Cadence's Academic Network Program, of which CMU is a member, promotes the proliferation of technology expertise among selected universities, research institutes and industry advisors in the area of microelectronic systems development.

"Cadence is privileged to institute an endowed chair in the School of Computer Science," said John Shoven, chairman of the Board of Directors of Cadence Design Systems. "We are fortunate to have many CMU CS graduates on our Cadence team and look forward to enabling the advancement of faculty members' research priorities."

"The connection between Cadence's work and computer science cannot be overstated," said Martial Hebert, dean of the School of Computer Science. "This new professorship is another indication of the deepening connections among computer science, electronic design automation and related areas."

Tan has been the CEO of Cadence since 2009 and joined the company's board of directors in 2004. He is also the founder and chairman of Walden International, a venture capital firm that he launched in 1987. He is a member of The Business Council and serves on the board of directors of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company and Schneider Electric SE.

Tan also serves on CMU's Board of Trustees and is a member of the College of Engineering's Dean's Advisory Council. The couple's two sons, Andrew and Elliott, both received their master's degrees from CMU's College of Engineering.

"Carnegie Mellon's ECE department has provided world-class education and an incredible learning experience to our two sons," Tan said. "Ysa and I are delighted to support the ECE department as it continues pushing the frontiers of cutting-edge, innovative research."

Tan and Loo previously endowed a graduate student fellowship in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

"I'm excited by the opportunity to recognize and support one of our star faculty as the Tan Family Professor in ECE," said Jon Cagan, interim dean of the College of Engineering. "We deeply value the additional support of research in the college by Lip-Bu Tan and his family."