Shilong Zhang Announced as 2026 Recipient of $10,000 SPIE Nick Cobb Memorial Scholarship

BELLINGHAM, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SPIE, the international society of optics and photonics, announced that Shilong Zhang is the recipient of the 2026 Nick Cobb Memorial Scholarship Award. Zhang will receive $10,000 toward pursuing his M.S.- PhD in Electrical Engineering at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Daejeon, South Korea. He will also be honored during the 2026 SPIE Advanced Lithography and Patterning conference held 22–26 February in San Jose, California.

Zhang is an SPIE Student Member who has attended SPIE conferences as a participant in technical discussions and mentor lunches. He has also received the $1,500 Photronics Best Student Award first prize at the 2025 SPIE Photomask Technology + EUV Lithography Conference and the ISE President Best Paper Award at the 2024 International SoC Design Conference. Zhang will be presenting “Etch proximity correction for curvilinear layout: Curve sampling with ML etch bias model” at Advanced Lithography + Patterning this month.

“Receiving the Nick Cobb Memorial Scholarship not only alleviates some of my financial pressures, but more importantly, it serves as a profound encouragement and validation of my research direction,” said Zhang. “I would encourage students in this field to stay curious and remain committed. SPIE is not just a high-quality academic platform, but also a community that creates meaningful opportunities for young researchers to grow professionally.”

The Nick Cobb Memorial Scholarship is awarded to an outstanding graduate student and Student Member of SPIE who is studying advanced lithography or a related field. Cobb was an SPIE Senior Member and Chief Engineer at Mentor Graphics (now Siemens EDA) whose groundbreaking contributions enabled optical and process proximity correction for IC manufacturing. Award funding can be used to support tuition and fees, textbooks, supplies and equipment required for courses of instruction. Along with the $10,000 scholarship, which is jointly funded by Siemens EDA and SPIE, recipients are also provided travel support by Siemens EDA to receive the award at the SPIE Advanced Lithography + Patterning conference.

“The collaboration between Siemens EDA and SPIE brings together industry leadership and the global lithography research community to honor the legacy of Nick Cobb through a meaningful investment in future talent,” said Siemens EDA OPC Engineering Director and SPIE Member, George Lippincott. “This year we had really strong candidates and the decision was difficult, but Shilong’s research in the field of curvilinear OPC and SRAF co-optimization [stood out]. We are hoping that the award will continue to attract and retain top talent to the field of advanced lithography, reinforce the importance of strong industry-academia collaboration, and provide the recipients with visibility and connections in the global lithography community.”

Previous Nick Cobb Scholarship winners and eligibility for future applicants can be found at spie.org.

About Siemens EDA

Siemens EDA, a division of Siemens, is a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products, consulting services, and award-winning support for the world's most successful electronic, semiconductor, and systems companies. Siemens provides a comprehensive portfolio of electronic design automation (EDA) software, hardware, and services. eda.sw.siemens.com/en-US/

About SPIE

SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, brings engineers, scientists, students, and business professionals together to advance light-based science and technology. The Society, founded in 1955, connects and engages with our global constituency through industry-leading conferences and exhibitions; publications of conference proceedings, books, and journals in the SPIE Digital Library; and career-building opportunities. Over the past five years, we have invested more than $26 million in the international optics community through our advocacy and support, including scholarships, educational resources, travel grants, endowed gifts, and public-policy development. spie.org