The award will be presented on June 25, 2009 at the IEEE honors ceremony in Los Angeles. Sangiovanni-Vincentelli will also be honored by His Majesty, the Duke of Edinburgh on Aug. 11, 2009 in a separate ceremony at the Royal Scottish Academy in Scotland.

Sangiovanni-Vincentelli, often referred to simply by his initials, made groundbreaking scientific contributions to the field of EDA as well as co-founding the two largest EDA companies in the field — Cadence and Synopsys.

"Alberto is a true Renaissance man, and we salute his achievements and his vision. As a scientist, engineer, entrepreneur and inspiring teacher, he has been instrumental in bringing the EDA industry to life," said Lip-Bu Tan, president and CEO of Cadence, in a statement. "This award marks another impressive milestone in his multi-faceted career, and we look forward to many more inventive contributions from Alberto in the years to come."

Sangiovanni-Vincentelli currently serves on the Board of Directors of Cadence, where he is chair of the Technology Committee, as well as on the boards of other companies he has helped found.

An IEEE Fellow and member of the National Academy of Engineering, Sangiovanni-Vincentelli's honors include the 2001 Phil Kaufman Award, the VIP Award of the Italian National Research Council and the 1994 Inventor Recognition Award from the Semiconductor Research Corporation. He received his doctorate in engineering from the Politecnico di Milano, Italy in 1971 and is currently the Edgar L. and Harold H. Buttner Chair of Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.

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