Dr. Widdoes is widely recognized as a pioneer of the EDA industry. He has founded three successful EDA companies. In 1981, he founded Valid Logic Systems and started the CAE industry. In 1987, he founded Logic Modeling Systems, which was later acquired by Synopsys. In 1996, he co-founded 0-In Design Automation, which pioneered assertion-based verification for the design of integrated circuits. In 2004, 0-In was acquired by Mentor Graphics Corporation, where Dr. Widdoes now serves as Chief Engineering Scientist. Dr. Widdoes holds a B.S. in engineering and applied science from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University. He holds twelve U.S. patents in EDA and is an IEEE W. Wallace McDowell Award recipient.