Avijit Kumar Ray-Chaudhuri ’86

Avi, beloved father and friend, died at the age of 60 Dec. 15, 2024, of a malignant brain tumor. Those of us who had the luck to spend time with Avi knew him to be an exceptionally kind and generous spirit. He was a great friend, quick to laugh and always ready with a story, which he deployed with gusto, usually while laughing.

Avi was a dynamic and innovative engineer in semiconductor fabrication and laser design. After Bridgewater-Raritan High School, he majored in electrical engineering at Princeton and joined Colonial Club and Team 111. He completed his Ph.D. in 1993 at the University of Wisconsin on the surface of potential semiconductors, developing a scanning photoemission microscope to study gallium arsenide.

Avi worked at Lawrence Livermore and Sandia national laboratories and at companies including KLA, Lumentum, FARO, and Aehr Test Systems. He dove into optical inspection for chip fabrication, helping develop some of the technologies used in every mobile phone. His teams often referred to him as charismatic and caring, helping find the right way to solve a problem.