Industrial Advisory Board
Full Members
 
Leo SchowalterIAB Chair CTO Click to Read Profile
After receiving his PhD in Physics from the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), Dr. Schowalter was employed by the GE Research and Development Center in Schenectady, NY. He joined Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 1987 and was chair of the Physics Department from 1997 to 2000 at which time he resigned to work with Crystal IS and is currently on a leave of absence from RPI. He has over 25 years experience in crystal growth and nano-probe technologies for which he has received international recognition and has focused his efforts on AlN crystal growth for the last eight years. He has published over 140 articles, co-edited four proceedings volumes, given over 50 invited talks, and holds three US patents (with 5 pending). He has co-chaired several international symposia in the areas of thin film crystal growth and nano-probe technologies. He was a co-instructor for the 1999 and 2000 Fall MRS Tutorials on nitride semiconductors and a tutorial instructor on nitride semiconductor substrates at the Gorham Compound Semiconductor Outlook Meetings of 2000 (San Diego) and 2002 (Taiwan). Dr. Schowalter also won the Tech Valley Business Plan competition for Crystal IS in 2003. |
Eric A. MeulenkampIAB Vice Chair Research Department Head Click to Read Profile
Dr Eric Meulenkamp received his PhD (cum laude) from Utrecht University, The Netherlands, in 1993 in the field of materials science. After a postdoctoral position in Bath, UK, he joined Philips Research Europe in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, in 1995, where he investigated several topics in materials science and device physics. In 2005, he became Head of the department "Photonic Materials and Devices", with focus on solid state lighting. In this role he was heavily involved in Open Innovation at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven and in the larger Netherlands R&D community. Late 2008, he took up the position of Research Department Head in Philips Research North America, where he currently leads the group "Controls, Communication, and Healthcare Informatics" that looks into lighting systems and controls for green buildings and cities, and clinical decision support for point of care solutions. |
Sajol GhoshalBusiness Unit Manager Click to Read Profile
Mr. Ghoshal is currently leading the effort to develop next generation lighting systems that can autonomously respond to environmental changes to adapt their intensity and color to enable energy savings and le natural lighting for better health and comfort. He has 26 years of experience, holds an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, and is the author of over 20 patents. Prior to joining AMS-TAOS, he co-founded Akros Silicon, a unique innovative company focused on delivering system-level green power solutions at the edge of the network through the integration of digital power and Ethernet connectivity. Prior to that, Mr. Ghoshal was COO at Calpont Corp., a development-stage company specializing in high performance hardware database systems, where he was responsible for engineering, operations, worldwide sales, product marketing and applications support. Before Calpont, he was VP of Engineering at Agere Inc. Mr. Ghoshal started his career working for Intel. |
 
Majeed FoadManager of Advanced Thin Films, Click to Read Profile
Dr. Majeed Foad is currently the manager of Advanced Thin Films Group at the CTO office of Applied Materials. He joined Applied Materials in 1995 in England as a Development Engineer with the Implant Division. He held several positions with increasing responsibilities. In 2006 he was appointed as a General Manager of the Plasma Doping Product Line where he led the P3i product through an aggressive program that exited the Alpha and Beta phases in 15 months. Majeed holds a BS in Physics, MS in Chemistry and a PhD in Electronic Engineering from the University of Glasgow, Scotland. |
 
Chris BohlerDirector of Innovation, |
 
Anthony LiuProject Manager, R&D center, Click to Read Profile
Mr. Anthony Liu is the Project Manager at Epistar. He holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science from National Taiwan University, and a Postdoc. from Melville Labratory (P-LED) at University of Cambridge. |
 
Karl JessenDirector of Innovation Management, Click to Read Profile
Karl serves as the Director of Innovation Management for OSRAM Sylvania - working to discover and advance new and innovative lighting and lighting system technologies. In his role at OSRAM, Karl works with emerging technologies, partnerships and business approaches in the technological "white spaces" of the solid state lighting business. Karl has over 19 years experience in clean energy technology. Prior to joining OSRAM, he directed industry cluster development and investments for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. He also founded a startup technology company and has worked in innovative energy technologies with Arthur D. Little, the Yankee Group and Honeywell. Karl was an officer in the US Air Force and holds an a BS in electrical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Babson College. |
 
Satish AgarwalClick to Read Profile
Prior to joining Performance Indicator in January 2004, Dr. Agrawal was an Imaging Consultant and had previously founded and eventually sold SiPix Imaging, Inc. Dr. Agrawal spent approximately 30 years at Polaroid as their Group Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. At Polaroid, Dr. Agrawal's activities embraced the entire spectrum of product development activity from formulation of business strategy, to development, manufacturing, and product launch for all of Polaroid's businesses and regions. At Polaroid, Dr. Agrawal managed an R&D budget in excess of $250 million and an R&D team of 2,000 people comprising 150 Ph.D.'s. He coordinates all aspects of Performance Indicator's technology development activities. |
 
Charles LeungProject Director, Click to Read Profile
Charles Leung has more than 30 years of materials and processing experience in silicon and a variety of III-V compound semiconducting materials applications in high power microwave devices, optoelectronic devices, laser in semiconductor processing; flat panel displays technology. Prior to joining Xiamen Sanan, he was with AXT, Dalian Lumei Optoelectronics, and Bridgelux for advanced development high power LED products. Charles Leung received his Ph. D. degree in Physical Chemistry from the University of California, Davis and B.S. degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He has published or co-authored 56 technical papers and holds 12 patents. |
 
Kibum NamCTO/VP |
 
John TarantoSenior Research Engineer of Advanced Energy Group, Click to Read Profile
John Taranto received his MS in Electro-Optical Engineering from the University of Dayton and has been working in the photonics industry for 23 years. After graduating from the University of Dayton John initially worked as a government contractor. He monitored government funded focal plane array reducibility programs for the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO). He was also part of a team that built a 100+kW quasi-CW CO2 laser at the Laser Hardened Materials Evaluation Laboratory (LHMEL) facility at Wright-Paterson Air Force Base, OH. As part of this group he gained experience integrating large scale systems and managing government projects. John joined Thorlabs early in its history, 1994, as a design engineer and has been responsible for many product designs; these include opto-mechanical components to electro-optical systems, such as their polarimeter (a polarization analyzer) and their omega-meter (a laser beam diameter measurement system). John has enjoyed various roles within Thorlabs over the years, including that of their Fiber Optic Business Unit leader. In this role John lead a team of people and was responsible for new product development, manufacturing, inventory control/management, and customer support. He increased sales for the group by >20% annually. After leading the Fiber Optic Business Unit, John took on his current role as a member of the Advanced Imaging Group. He has been focusing on adaptive optics based imaging systems. In September 2007 Thorlabs teamed with Boston Micromachines Corporation to help offer advanced MEMS based deformable mirrors to the photonics research community. John helped to incorporate the MEMS-DMs into a fully functional affordable Adaptive Optics kit, which integrates BMC's Multi-deformable mirror, Thorlabs' wavefront sensor, a pre-aligned opto-mechanic system, light source, and a software development kit. This kit provides an affordable means for users to get started in AO and minimize their time to realize an operational AO system. Additionally, Thorlabs committed to offering two DM designs, resulting in a cost effective solutions for OEM applications. |
David ChiangDirector, Technology Development OU, MOME BG (Solid State Light Source
Development), Click to Read Profile
Since 2008 David Chiang has been the director of Technology Development, Micro Optical-Mechanical-Electronic Business Development, for WALSIN LIHWA Corporation. He holds a doctorate degree in Materials Science from Karlsruhe University's Institute of Material Research. |
Affiliate Members
Martin Moore-EdeChairman & CEO, |
Ravi BhatkalVP of Energy Technologies, Click to Read Profile
Ravi Bhatkal serves as Vice President, Energy Technologies, at Cookson Electronics, where he has responsibility for new business creation in the Alternative Energy and Energy Efficiency value chains, including identification and evaluation of new opportunities and generation of a pipeline of short, medium and long term profitable revenue for Cookson Electronics. Previously, Ravi served as VP and General Manager of the global Engineered Products business and led Global OEM Marketing, Strategic Planning, and the corporate New Business Development initiatives at Cookson Electronics. Ravi has a B.E. Mechanical Engineering from The College of Engineering, Pune. Subsequently, Ravi received his M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Vanderbilt University and his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering and M.B.A. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Ravi currently serves as Technical Committee Member of iNEMI (International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative, a global electronics industry consortium with cumulative corporate member revenue of ~$450 billion), and co-chairs iNEMI industry roadmaps for Photovoltaics, Solid State Lighting, Energy Storage and Power Conversion and Environmentally Conscious Electronic Materials. He has also served on the Editorial Board of Advanced Materials and Processes Magazine. |
Mark P. Taylor |
Geoff GardnerGlobal Business Manager, LED Packaging Materials, Click to Read Profile
Geoff Gardner serves as the Global Business Manager for Dow Corning's LED Packaging Materials division, where he has responsibility for strategy development and implementation of Dow Corning's next generation materials for LED components. After receiving a BS from Duke University and a Ph.D. in chemistry from University of Michigan, Geoff joined Dow Corning in 1999 to lead development of silicone materials for semiconductor processing operations. Prior to his current role, Geoff was Global Marketing Manager for Dow Corning's LED Packaging program. Geoff has multiple presentations and publications on LEDs, the electronics industry, and general materials chemistry as well as holding seven patents on materials usage in the electronics industry. |
Robert ChenDeputy Manager, |
Joseph SmartVP and GM, |
Tom HamiltonVice President of Marketing Click to Read Profile
Tom Hamilton is Vice President of Marketing at intelligent LED lighting solutions provider Ketra, Inc. Prior to joining Ketra he managed the product marketing and strategy for LED-based interior accent lighting and general illumination products at Philips Color Kinetics. While attending graduate school, he was a Consultant at QD Vision, a company that is developing next generation Organic LED (OLED) display and lighting solutions. Prior to that he served as Senior Engineer at ColorLink, Inc. (acquired by RealD in 2007), a manufacturer of optical systems for 3D cinema and video projection. He has served multiple terms in executive committee roles with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and is a member of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA). Mr. Hamilton received his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder and received MBA and MS degrees from Boston University. |
Mark RaynorSenior R&D Director Click to Read Profile
Mark Raynor is Senior R&D Director at the Matheson Advanced Technology Center in Longmont CO, where he is responsible for new process and product development for electronic and other specialty gases. This includes developments in areas such as new materials synthesis, new precursors and chemistries for etch, clean and deposition processes, purification methods and media, design of gas delivery equipment as well as research into trace analytical techniques. Dr. Raynor received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry (1990) at the University of Leeds, UK. Raynor’s 25-year career has encompassed chromatography and extraction with supercritical fluids, gas purification (in particular for hydride gases used in III-V semiconductor manufacture) and analytical instrumentation development. From 1991 until 1996 Dr. Raynor held the position of Associate Professor of Applied Chemistry at the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa. He is the primary author on over 40 publications in the field of analytical chemistry and specialty gases. |
Felipe A. LeonProduct Manager, |
Jianzhong JiaoDirector of Regulations and Emerging Technologies, Click to Read Profile
Dr. Jianzhong Jiao is an internationally recognized lighting expert for light sources and lighting products design, technology development, testing, standards, and regulations. Dr. Jiao has been actively involved in professional and industrial organizations. He is the pass Chair of the SAE Lighting Committee, past Chair of NGLIA, pass Chair of NEMA SSL Section Technical Committee, and active member of committees in IES, ANSI, NEMA, UL, IEEE, JEDEC, SEMI, and others. He is the SAE Follow, and has received several industry awards. Dr. Jiao holds 9 U.S. Patents, has authored and co-authored over 20 technical papers and magazine articles, and given numerous invited presentations to international events. Dr. Jiao currently serves as the Director of Regulations and Emerging Technologies at OSRAM Opto Semiconductors Inc. |
Stanley SmithDirector of Research and Development, Click to Read Profile
Dr. Stanley Smith holds a doctorate in Materials Science and Engineering from North Carolina State University. He joined Praxair's Research and Development Center in Tonawanda, NY in 2007, where he leads development of emerging materials and gases product technologies for semiconductor, flat panel, light emitting diodes and solar markets. Prior to joining Praxair, Smith held a number of management positions leading process and product development activities in the data storage and semiconductor industries. He has extensive expertise in chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) and related surface metrology technology. Most recently, Smith led the 45nm-node Cu CMP process development activities at Texas Instruments. He holds 2 granted patents and is an author/co-author of over 15 invited/peer reviewed papers in publications/presentations. |
Jingqun XiPresident and CEO, Click to Read Profile
J.-Q. Xi has worked in the LED and solid state lighting field for more than 8 years. J.-Q. founded Raydex Technology in 2009 based on the vision that innovative packaging solutions will be critical for the next wave of solid state lighting technology. He has been managing the company as President and CEO since its founding. Prior to founding Raydex, J.-Q. has worked in Corning Corporation as a scientist. J.-Q. Xi received his Ph. D. degree in Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and B.S. degree from Fudan University in China. He has published or co-authored more than 20 technical papers and holds 2 granted patents and 5 pending patents. |
Shohei YamamotoManager of Research, |
George PowchCEO and President, |
