Software innovator Tuinenga joins Vanderbilt Space and Defense Institute

Electronic industry entrepreneur Paul Tuinenga has joined Vanderbilt University as principal staff engineer and program manager for software development for the Institute for Space and Defense Electronics.

Tuinenga, who co-founded MicroSim Corporation and Avista Design Systems, is known throughout the electronics industry for his contributions to electronic design automation and computer-aided design software for personal computers. Prior to joining Vanderbilt, he was an application engineering consultant for Mentor Graphics Corp. and before that was with Cadence Design Systems.

“We are thrilled to have Paul join the ISDE team,” says Lloyd Massengill, ISDE co-director. “Paul brings a wealth of expertise in electronic device modeling, simulation engine development and EDA tool deployment to support our existing radiation-effects analysis infrastructure. He is an expert in top-down software design, functional circuit modeling, RF and mixed-signal device simulation, and advanced integrated systems design.”

Tuinenga helped create  the popular electronic circuit simulation package PSpice, a personal computer software program  based on the industry-standard mainframe tool SPICE. He later developed CAD software for personal computers through his company Avista Design Systems.

Massengill said he expects Tuinenga to help ISDE expand its presence in the commercial electronics sector, particularly in the areas of radiation effects models, verification algorithms and co-design for fault-tolerant electronics of all types.