Just checked into the hotel and very excited about my first day at DAC tomorrow. For the most part, I will be attending the Young Faculty Workshop which, if I'm not mistaken, is being held for the first time this year. The basic idea is to get senior Ph.D. students and industry researchers looking to get into academia acquainted with the both the application process and what to expect in the beginning of an acedemic career.

What I like is that the workshop promises to cover a fairly broad range of topics that include not only the job application process, but also information and tips about the tenure process, getting funding and balancing research with teching! For more information check out http://kona.ee.pitt.edu/yfws/Young_Faculty_Workshop-DAC_2009.pdf

Also on the cards tomorrow is the CEO panel that features talks on the "Future of EDA" from Synopsys, Cadence and Mentor Graphics. I've heard a lot of talk at other EDA conferences and also last year at DAC about the grim future for the EDA industry, so it will certainly be enlightening to hear from these guys what they think!

For now. I'm going to retire to the bar at the top floor of the hotel, which I hear has a great view of the city :).