University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) electrical and computer engineering professor James Buckwalter has been inducted as a senior member of the U.S. National Academy of Inventors (NAI) for his work that has advanced the high-speed and high-frequency integrated-circuit technologies that underpin modern wireless and optoelectronic communication systems. He was cited by the NAI for his “remarkable achievements as an academic inventor and a rising leader in his field.”

“I’m thrilled to learn that the NAI has recognized my efforts at UCSB to translate original research on next-generation wireless and photonic systems into commercialization. Membership in the NAI is a significant honor at this stage of my career, and I am proud to join a distinguished group of faculty inventors at UCSB.”

Like anyone positioned at the leading edge of high-frequency electronics today, Buckwalter focuses a good amount of his attention on not only the influence and power of artificial intelligence, but also the seemingly insatiable demand for electrical power that comes with it. He says that physical AI — the robots, sensors, autonomous vehicles ,and other applications of it, plus the infrastructure that enables them — “offers exciting potential for society but also places exponential demands on the infrastructure that moves data between where it is collected, where it is processed, and where it is put into action.”

“Over the years, UC Santa Barbara has attracted a steady stream of excellent engineers in electrical and computer engineering,” said Umesh Mishra, dean of The Robert Mehrabian College of Engineering. “James Buckwalter stands prominently among the latest generation of impressive talent in the field. He has made important contributions to a range of technologies that find application in electronic devices used everyday around the world, from cellphones and televisions to airliners and spacecraft. We’re extremely proud of him for being recognized by the NAI both as an engineer and as a highly innovative entrepreneur. We send congratulations to Professor Buckwalter on this notable and well-deserved achievement.” 
 
Researchers in power electronics are responding with big advances in optical interconnects to move and process data faster and more efficiently in data centers, on institutional servers, like those in the UCSB High Performance Computing Center — and far beyond. “Ambitious proposals are now being advanced to move AI data into space, which requires a new generation of satellite communications to connect space-based and ground-based data centers,” Buckwalter said, adding, “In my group, we are trying to look forward to the materials and devices — many of the forerunners of which were invented at UCSB — and envision the circuits and systems that will fuel the future of physical AI.”

UC Santa Barbara, and the Santa Barbara region, have a long history as a hotbed of such innovation, and also of entrepreneurship, which has enabled so many inventions to make an impact in the world. Buckwalter brings that innovative spirit to his area of expertise.

Seeing a need and an opportunity, he co-founded the startup PseudolithIC, where he also serves as chief technology officer. The company was started with the goal of making better compound semiconductor circuits, which are indispensable to the radio-frequency (rf) systems found everywhere in modern life. But while the tiny chips are extremely powerful, they are also expensive, they cannot be manufactured quickly, and they are limited in the consumer applications they afford compared to silicon. 

Thinking they could do better, Buckwalter and his co-founder and PseudolithIC CEO, Florian Herrault, set out to create CMOS-compatible hybrid rf integrated circuits that would be smaller, better performing, scalable, and as cheap as silicon — exactly what will be needed in those next-generation satellites.

In announcing this year’s cohort of new senior members, NAI wrote that Buckwalter’s work “combines fundamental circuit innovation with real-world deployment, enabling faster data transmission, reduced power consumption, and more efficient wireless infrastructure. By advancing circuit architectures that integrate CMOS with III-V materials, his research helps to push the limits of speed, efficiency, and scalability in next-generation communication systems, [while his] patented technologies contribute directly to innovations in wireless connectivity, sensing, and high-performance electronics.”

Buckwalter joins a network of 945 NAI senior members worldwide. The induction ceremony will be held during NAI’s annual conference in Los Angeles in June.