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Susanne Paul
Design Manager
Silicon Laboratories

Susanne is a designer, but you wouldn't believe what she has designed! Find out how she won an award for an idea she had while doing a tune-up on her lawnmower engine!

What are some of your job responsibilities?
I have been working on building the first silicon-based power amplifier for cell phones. Every cell phone has a power amplifier inside of it. The power amplifier is a chip, also called an integrated circuit. The power amplifier generates the electromagnetic waves that come out of the phone's antenna and travel to the nearest cellular tower.

The advantages of building a power amplifier in silicon are that it will make cell phones less expensive, smaller, and lighter. Until now people said that power amplifiers could not be built in silicon. They were wrong. My team has done it.

It took an invention to make this chip possible. I came up with idea of how to design this chip while I was doing a tune-up on my lawnmower engine. I now have many patents on the idea. This year I won two awards: "Best Analog IC" for the chip and "Innovator of the Year" for the invention.

How did you find your current job?
I was giving a presentation of my doctoral work at a conference in 1999 when I was approached by one of the founders of Silicon Laboratories. He asked me to come to Austin for an interview. I had never heard of the company before, since it was only about 30 people at the time. My husband and I were tired of the cold winters in Massachusetts and wanted to move somewhere warmer. So when I heard that Silicon Laboratories was in Austin, I agreed to come interview. I loved both Austin and the company when I came to visit. When I started, I was the first female engineer on staff. Now the company has grown to more than 600 employees!

Did you learn any of your skills from school?
I went to MIT for a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering. Then I worked for 2 years designing microprocessors for personal computers and for 3 years designing imaging chips for digital cameras. After this, I went back to MIT for my Masters and PhD degrees.

What would you tell a girl that was interested in doing what you do?
Don't think that you need to give up starting a family to have a successful career. It is possible to do both. I have a 2½ year old son and a 3 month old daughter and they are every bit as important to me as my career. Even if you need to put your career on hold for a few years to focus on family, your career will still be there when you are ready to return to it.

What are some of your hobbies?
I am the type of person who always needs to be accomplishing something, even in my free time. So my hobbies are projects around the house. I do all the repair work on our three cars, maintain our yard and mow our lawn, and fix anything that needs repair around our house unless it involves going up on the roof, which is extremely steep.

What is your favorite website?
My favorite website is www.google.com. I use it every day to look up bits of information that I don't know. Sometimes when my husband and I have a question, we each go to our computers and have a contest to see who can find the answer faster. It takes only minutes to find the answer to even the most obscure questions online.

If you could talk to you when you were 12 years old, what advice would you give yourself?
Follow your gut feeling when it comes to deciding on a career path. When you come across something that excites you, pursue it further. Your instincts are probably right.