The title of his project is "Radical Silicon Interconnection Platform for Ultimate Performance Electronics." The goal of the research is to design and experimentally demonstrate a novel system-level interconnect platform to enable ultimate performance computing systems. The research will explore radical 3D interconnect components and monolithic thermal management technologies for the integration of logic, memory, and silicon nanophotonics. The proposed research will yield a radical new paradigm for how computing systems are designed and interconnected leading to increased system throughput while consuming lower energy and volume.

The YFA program provides funding, mentoring, and industry and DoD contacts to awardees early in their careers so they may develop their research ideas in the context of DoD needs. The program focuses on untenured faculty, emphasizing those without prior DARPA funding. The long-term goal of the YFA program is to develop the next generation of academic scientists, engineers and mathematicians in key disciplines who will focus a significant portion of their career on DoD and national security issues.

One other Georgia Tech faculty member was among the 2012 winners of this prestigious DARPA award: Dr. Daniel Goldman of Physics (Towards a Terramechanics of Heterogeneous Granular Media).

Bakir is the editor of a book entitled Integrated Interconnect Technologies for 3D Nanoelectronic Systems and is the author/coauthor of more than 60 journal publications and conference proceedings, five book chapters, 12 US patents, multiple invited presentations, and the presenter of two conference tutorials, including an invited tutorial on 3D technology at the 2007 International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC).