March 25, 2003 -- During his 20 years at Bell Labs and AT&T, Professor John Bean developed what he calls a "mind's-eye view of semiconductor physics." When he began teaching at the University in 1996, he found it impossible to reproduce his mental images on the standard-issue, two-dimensional blackboards that adorn the walls of most engineering classrooms. "It struck me that the blackboard is a perfectly rotten medium for rendering three-dimensional phenomena over time," he recalls. "It just can't be done."

He soon realized, though, that it was not just the limitations of the medium or his lack of drawing skills that was the problem. Students-being students-lacked the real-life experience needed to internalize the physics. His solution: develop a virtual microelectronics laboratory. [More]