Much of modern life runs on computer chips, but how most chips are designed leaves a lot on the table, as conventional design practices do not account for the changes that chips undergo as they heat, cool, and age. Engineers design for the worst-case scenario by forcing chips to run at elevated voltages and slower speeds, a tradeoff that wastes energy and limits performance. As demand for computing surges—especially with artificial intelligence—those inefficiencies add up.
Fourth-year student Nhlanhla Mavuso is working to make computer chips more efficient, durable, and less wasteful—finding ways to get more computing power from the hardware already in use. A student in Penn’s Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research (VIPER), jointly housed in the School of Arts & Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Science, he is developing Fluid Silicon, a platform that enables reconfigurable chips to monitor their condition in real time and operate more efficiently.
Mavuso, who hails from Simunye, Eswatini, has earned this year’s President’s Sustainability Prize, an award that empowers Penn undergraduates to design and undertake post-graduation projects that make a positive, lasting difference in the world. The prizes are among the largest of their kind in higher education. He will receive $100,000 for Fluid Silicon and a $50,000 living stipend.
