Nick Cobb Memorial Scholarship

The US $10,000 Nick Cobb Memorial Scholarship is awarded to an outstanding graduate student studying advanced lithography or a related field. The funding can be used to support tuition and fees, textbooks, supplies and equipment required for courses of instruction, and a computer or computer upgrade.

The scholarship is jointly funded by Siemens EDA and SPIE. In addition to the $10,000 scholarship, Siemens EDA provides the winner travel support to SPIE Advanced Lithography + Patterning to receive the award.

The scholarship honors the memory of Nick Cobb, an SPIE Senior Member and Chief Engineer at Mentor Graphics, now Siemens EDA, and his groundbreaking contributions enabling optical and process proximity correction for IC manufacturing.

The 2024 closed 6 October 2023. Read about previous recipients below. 

Requirements and eligibility

All applicants must meet the following requirements in order for the application to be forwarded for consideration:

  • Be a Student Member of SPIE 
  • Be a graduate student studying in advanced lithography or a related field
  • Include two (2) required recommendations. Family members, relatives, and students are not eligible to submit a recommendation. 
  • Complete the recommendations using the online application system. Letters sent as email attachments will not be accepted.
  • File your annual scholarship report with SPIE if you have received previous scholarship(s)
  • Have not already received a terminal degree (MD, JD, PhD, etc.) 
  • Submit a complete application

2023 recipient

Brendan McBennett

Univ. of Colorado Boulder (United States)

Brendan McBennett is pursuing a PhD in Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder (CU), with research using short-wavelength lasers to resolve heat flow on length scales below the visible diffraction limit.

Read the press release to learn more.

2022 recipient

Yonghwi Kwon

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (Republic of Korea)

Yonghwi Kwon, pursuing an MS-PhD integrated course at the School of Electrical Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), was awarded the 2022 Nick Cobb Memorial Scholarship.

Read the press release to learn more.

2021 recipient

Yuka Esashi

Univ. of Colorado Boulder (United States)

Yuka Esashi, pursuing her PhD in physics at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Kapteyn-Murnane group, was awarded the 2021 Nick Cobb Memorial Scholarship.

Read the press release to learn more.

2020 recipient

Luke Long

University of California at Berkeley (United States)

Luke Long, pursuing his PhD in the physics department of the University of California at Berkeley, was awarded the 2020 Nick Cobb Memorial Scholarship SPIE Advanced Lithography 2020 in San Jose, California.

Read the press release to learn more.

2019 recipient

Haoyu Yang

Chinese University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong)

Haoyu Yang, pursuing his PhD at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, was awarded the inaugural Nick Cobb Memorial Scholarship at SPIE Advanced Lithography 2019 in San Jose, California.

Read the press release to learn more.

 

The Nick Cobb Scholarship is one of several named SPIE scholarships that are funded by companies and individuals who partner with SPIE to serve its non-profit educational mission.