Lisa T. Su Building (12) - MIT.nano - First Alumna-Donor Named Building

Steps away from the Infinite Corridor and a short walk from the Big Dome, MIT Building 12 stands. It is named the Lisa T. Su building after alum Lisa Su '90, SM '91, PhD '94, the first women alumni donor to have a building named after her (1). Completed in 2018, Building 12 is a multidisciplinary space housing labs, imaging facilities, teaching spaces, and meeting spaces meant to support advancements in nanotechnology, technology on the scale of billionths of a meter (2).

MIT.nano offers tours to faculty and their research teams; staff from MIT departments, centers, and offices; alumni clubs; and outside groups including corporations and industrial visitors interested in nanoscale discovery and innovation. Unfortunately, they are unable to offer tours to individuals, families visiting MIT, or tourists. For more information visit https://mitnano.mit.edu/request-tour-mitnano

Building 12 was planned specifically as a space to spearhead nanotechnology advancements. MIT believed nanotechnology would be important in many fields and MIT wanted to be the leader in these advances. However, previous nanotechnology facilities on campus were too small to accommodate students and researchers wanting to use them. Thus, construction began in 2014 to create the hub for all things nano. (3)

This collection of resources, called MIT.nano, is housed in the building numbered Building 12. In April 2022, Building 12 was named the Lisa T. Su building after Lisa T. Su ’90, SM ’91, PhD ’94 (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science). She is the first alumna donor to have an MIT building solely named after her (1). 

At the time of writing, Su is CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc (AMD), a semiconductor manufacturing company. She has long been involved with and recognized for her work with semiconductors and nanotechnology. In 2002, she was designated as an Innovator TR35, 35 under 35, from the MIT Technology Review for her work at IBM in the Emerging Products group which made products with low-power and broadband semiconductors (4). In 2020, Su was the recipient of the Semiconductor Industry Association's Robert N. Noyce Award, one of the highest awards bestowed in the industry (12). She is the first woman to receive the award (11).

Before Su became a leader in her field, she was an electrical engineering student at MIT. While an undergrad, she participated in the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. She worked on manufacturing test silicon wafers for graduate students. This began her career-long focus on semiconductors (5).

She stayed at MIT to complete her master and doctorate degrees. Her PhD thesis was titled “Extreme-submicrometer silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MOSFETs” (6). After graduating, she held R&D and management roles at Freescale Semiconductor. Later she began work at AMD, becoming CEO in October of 2014. In addition, she serves in Board of Directors roles at multiple semiconductor companies and groups (10).

With Su’s accomplishments in semiconductor technology, it is fitting she has a nanotechnology building named after her. Her accomplishments, though, are not the only criteria for naming. The naming also resulted after she donated an undisclosed amount to MIT (1). For comparison, in 1997 it was reported Ray Stata ‘57, SM '58 (Electrical Engineering) and Maria Stata donated $25 million to MIT for capital projects. Both are the namesakes for the Ray and Maria Stata Center, numbered Building 32 (7). And while Su is the first woman to have a building solely named after her, she isn’t the first woman to have her name on a building. Building E52, for one, was named after Morris Chang '52, SM '53, ME '55 (Mechanical Engineering) and his wife, Sophie Chang, in 2016 (8).

Not only is the building named after an alumna, but the outside corridor pays attribute to a professor. On the south side of the building, there is the Improbability Walk. The name of the courtyard path is in reference to a quote by late MIT Institute Professor Emerita Mildred Dresselhaus, “My background is so improbable — that I’d be here from where I started” (9).

Su’s legacy will be kept alive with the technological advancements that begin in Building 12. Su notes, “MIT has played an incredibly important role in my life. I am honored and extremely pleased to be able to impact the next generation of students and researchers. There is no substitute for hands-on learning, and my hope is that MIT.nano will enable and develop the best and brightest technologists and innovators in the future” (1).

1. MIT to name Building 12, home of MIT.nano, in honor of Lisa Su. (n.d.). MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://news.mit.edu/2022/mit-name-building-12-home-mitnano-honor-lisa-su-0407
2. ‌MIT.nano, Building 12. (n.d.). Capitalprojects.mit.edu. Retrieved October 20, 2022, from https://capitalprojects.mit.edu/projects/mitnano-building-12
3. New building will be a hub for nanoscale research. (n.d.). MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://news.mit.edu/2014/new-building-will-be-hub-for-nanoscale-research-0429
4. ‌Lisa Su. (n.d.). MIT Technology Review. Retrieved November 25, 2022, from https://www.technologyreview.com/innovator/lisa-su/
5. ‌Dr. Lisa Su. (2016, November 23). Web.archive.org. https://web.archive.org/web/20161123124719/http://www.amd.com/en-us/who-we-are/corporate-information/leadership/dr-lisa-su
6. ‌Su, L. T. (Lisa T.-F. (1994). Extreme-submicrometer silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MOSFETs. Dspace.mit.edu. https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/11618
7. ‌Ray and Maria Stata give MIT $25 million, the largest gift ever for a building project at MIT. (n.d.). MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved February 27, 2023, from https://news.mit.edu/1997/stata
8. ‌MIT to name signature building on the Charles River in honor of Morris and Sophie Chang. (n.d.). MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. https://news.mit.edu/2015/mit-names-building-honor-morris-and-sophie-chang-1202
9. ‌A big new home for the ultrasmall. (n.d.). MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved October 20, 2022, from https://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-nano-building-open-0924
10. Lisa Su. (n.d.). Home [LinkedIn page]. LinkedIn. Retrieved February 27, 2023, from https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-su-3ba3364/
11. Pretz, K. (2021, September 24). AMD’s Lisa Su Breaks Through the Silicon Ceiling. IEEE Spectrum. https://spectrum.ieee.org/amds-lisa-su-breaks-through-the-silicon-ceiling
12. ‌Ravi, S. (2020, September 15). AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su to Receive Semiconductor Industry’s Top Honor. Semiconductor Industry Association. https://www.semiconductors.org/amd-ceo-dr-lisa-su-to-receive-semiconductor-industrys-top-honor/