Industrial Advisory Board

Majeed Foad

IAB Chair

Manager of Advanced Thin Films,
Advanced Technology Group (CTO Office)
Applied Materials

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.

Leo Schowalter

IAB Vice Chair

CTO,
Crystal-IS

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.

Kevin Donegan

CEO and President,
C9 Corporation

Mr. Kevin Donegan is the CEO and president of C9 Corporation. Trained as an engineer, Donegan has been lecturing on the uses of silicon carbide at commercial and military conferences since 1996. He led a composite team for SAIC, Northrop Grumman, United Defense and Satcon for the DARPA CHPS (Combat Hybrid Power System) program starting in 1997. As an expert in power conversion topologies and semiconductor device applications, he holds 15 patents with more pending. He is also CEO of Amtrade, which brings military R&D technologies to the commercial market. Amtrade has designed and issued proposals for converter platforms up to the megawatt class for corporate clients. Previously, he was a vice president at Silicon Power Corporation, where he led the development and marketing of five product lines. He has also held management, engineering and sales positions at R&D companies focused on technologies such as sonar and laser.

Anthony Liu

Project Manager, R&D center,
Epistar

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 Jessen

Director of Innovation Management,
Osram-Sylvania

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 Agarwal

CTO,
Performance Indicator

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.

Eric A. Meulenkamp

Research Department Head
Controls, Communication, and Healthcare Informatics,
Philips

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.

Charles Leung

Project Director,
Sanan Optoelectronics Co. Ltd.

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.

Namseog Kim

CTO/VP
Central R&D Center,
Seoul Optosemiconductor

John Taranto

Senior Research Engineer of Advanced Energy Group,
Thorlabs

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 Chiang

Director, Technology Development OU, MOME BG (Solid State Light Source Development),
Walsin Lihwa Corporation

Ravi Bhatkal

VP of Energy Technologies,
Cookson Electronics

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.

Joseph Smart

VP and GM,
Group 4 Labs

Conrad Sorenson

Advanced Technology Development Manager,
Matheson Tri-Gas

Conrad Sorenson recently joined Matheson Gas in the role of Advanced Technology Development Manager and is responsible for the development of plans and roadmaps required to design products, develop new applications, and improve processes to meet the rapidly-evolving customer needs. As a member of the R&D team, he provides leadership for the introduction of new products and identifies new opportunities in current, adjacent, and emerging technology-driven markets. Prior to joining Matheson Gas, Mr. Sorenson worked as an independent consultant for more than five years, focused on the business and technology aspects of the electronic materials market. Mr. Sorenson previously worked for PraxairÕs Electronics Division for eight years in Technical Strategy and Program Development Management roles and spent more than five years as the Director of Contamination Free Manufacturing, Environment, Safety & Health, and Facilities for SEMI/SEMATECH, a consortium of more than US owned suppliers of equipment, materials, software, and services to the semiconductor industry located in Austin, Texas. Mr. Sorenson has been active in the semiconductor industry, both as a process engineer as well as a supplier for his entire professional career. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from the University of Texas in Austin.

David Newman

VP,
Moser Baer Technologies

Jianzhong Jiao

Director of Regulations and Emerging Technologies,
OSRAM Opto Semiconductors

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 Smith

Director of Research and Development,
Praxair

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 Xi

President and CEO,
Raydex Technology

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.

Nety Krishna

CTO,
Redpoint Ventures

Nety Krishna is a Specialist Partner and the CTO at Redpoint Ventures. Nety focuses on investment opportunities in Redpoint’s energy, materials and environment practice. Nety’s current areas of interest include novel materials, technologies to improve existing infrastructure, energy generation including renewables, system level energy efficiency, reliable and scalable energy storage, carbon mitigation and minimization, novel fuels, water technologies and solid state lighting. Nety currently serves on the board of Liquid Light and is also involved in Redpoint’s investments in Envia Systems and Intermolecular. Prior to joining Redpoint, Nety was a senior director in the office of the CTO at Applied Materials. Before joining Applied Materials, Nety worked on high energy physics experiments at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. Nety received a M.S. in Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Particle Physics from Rice University.

SemiTech, Inc.

Daxi Xiong

President & CEO,
SemiTech, Inc.

Eric Li

President and CEO,
SiliconCore Technology

Eric Li received his BS degree in Physics from Peking University in 1989 and completed his MS degree in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1991. Eric started his career as an IC design engineer in Silicon Valley and worked at various semiconductor and computer system companies, including Integrated Device Technology, Philips Semiconductor and Sun Microsystems. In 1997, Eric founded SiliconCore Technology (SCT) and he has been managing the company as President and CEO since its inception. SCT's initial focus was an IP design and service company, but it quickly transitioned to a fabless semiconductor company with a diversified product portfolio focused on high volume consumer applications. Eric raised over $25M in venture funding from several international sources and successfully managed the growth of the company and expansion to multiple countries, generating over $100M of sales to date. He has been awarded 3 US patents and has over 10 patents pending.

Steven Chen

Founder, President & CEO,
Totus Lighting Solutions, Inc.

Prior to founding Totus Lighting Solutions, Steven Chen was CTO and SVP, Corporate Development of EFJohnson Technologies, Inc., a $150M public company and a provider of public safety communication systems. Steven is Chairman of IEEE 1451.5, the Standards Group for wireless smart sensor networks. Steven was also Founder and former CEO of 3eTI, a supplier of secure, wireless systems to federal, defense and corporate customers. Steven is known for R&D funded by government via SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) with $200M+ sole source contracts for R&D, products, solutions and services. He received a B.S. Electrical Engineering from Tamkang University and a M.S. Electrical Engineering from SUNY at Buffalo.