Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Building 12, home of MIT.nano, received a new name on May 14 in honor of Lisa T. Su, an MIT alumna and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
According to MIT News, the Taiwanese American executive is the first MIT alumna to make a gift for a building that bears her own name. A dedication ceremony was held Sunday with Su and her family and friends presenting at the nanoscience building.
“Eight years at MIT have given me an incredible foundation, and perhaps also, more importantly, the confidence and the vision,” she said.
Some of the guests at the ceremony were Su’s professors when she was at school. She said that during her school years, she sometimes stayed in the lab until the middle of the night to explore new technologies.
“Every new patch of devices was a new adventure. And I learnt so much. But it was not just about devices, it was about how to really think and solve problems,” Su said.
According to MIT News, Su earned her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from MIT in electrical engineering in the 1990s. She joined AMD in 2012, and then became the semiconductor company’s chief executive officer and chair of the Board of Directors in 2014. Under her leadership, AMD achieved its strongest performance in the company’s 53 years history in 2021, bringing to market several leading-edge technologies.
Also, in 2021, Su was named as a Member of the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and was inducted into the Women in Technology Hall of Fame.
“As many of you know first-hand, Lisa was an exceptional student with great dedication, to earn one, two, and three degrees from MIT. Long before she graduated, she was pioneering in new technologies,” MIT president L. Rafael Reif said.
He said that the new building with the most advanced research equipment was a showcase that “MIT moves forward like science itself.” He also described the building as a new center of community, where teachers, students, researchers, entrepreneurs, and other brilliant people “invent the future” together.
According to MIT News, the Lisa T. Su building locates at the center of campus adjacent to the Great Dome. Opened in 2018, the building with glass facades allows unobstructed views into the laboratories. So far, it has drawn the participation of researchers from dozens of MIT departments and labs, as well as external users from industry, academia, and other organizations.
Lisa Su’s father, Chun-Hwai Su shared his pride in his daughter’s achievements and generosity after the Sunday ceremony.
Chun-Hwai said that Lisa showed great interest in engineering when she was a child, by disassembling a lot of toys and learning how they moved.
“If she disassembled toys, I would buy more complicated toys for her to disassemble,” Chun-Hwai said and laughed.
He said that Lisa was not only good at math, but also loved to turn her knowledge into products, which may be part of the reasons why she was able to lead AMD to its best innovative performance.
“We’re very happy that she gives back to her school today. She was trained here. Now she credits her school with her achievements. I think this is very meaningful. It also shows that Taiwanese students would give back to the community, and help to train more new talent, make more products, and benefit the people,” Chun-Hwai said.
