Two Cornell graduate students have received prestigious Intel Foundation Fellowships, which are awarded to Ph.D. candidates pursuing leading-edge work in fields related to Intel's business and research interests.

Michael Clarkson in computer science and Rajeev Dokania in electrical and computer engineering will receive tuition and fees plus a stipend for one year, renewable for one more, along with an Intel-based laptop and opportunities to work with mentors at Intel, participate in Intel internships and attend the Intel Fellowship Forum in October 2008. The program is highly competitive, with about 40 fellowships a year given out at selected universities.

Clarkson works with computer science professor Fred Schneider and associate professor Andrew Myers on problems in computer security, programming languages and formal methods (a mathematically based approach to programming that ensures high reliability). Clarkson previously received a 2001 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Outside the department he studies organ, voice and conducting.

Dokania's award is based on his work in high-efficiency optical interconnects within computing systems and low-power electronics with Alyssa Apsel, the Clare Booth Luce Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The research focuses on the problems that arise when analog circuits, such as radio transceivers, are scaled down to very large-scale integrated circuit dimensions and how substituting optical connections for electrical ones can improve performance. Dokania has already worked in internships with Intel. In his spare time he plays cricket and competes in the electrical and computer engineering pingpong league.