The Governor has made the following appointments to the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Consortium Executive Committee:
David E. Daniel, Ph.D. of Dallas is President Emeritus of UT Dallas, a part time engineering consultant and serves on several nonprofit boards. He is past president, executive committee member, and board member of the Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science, and Technology, member and past governing board member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a distinguished member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Additionally, he is a former member and committee chair for the American Society for Testing and Materials and former board of trustees member for the University Research Association. He serves as a member of the advisory board for MassChallenge Texas, chair of the advisory board for the Gulf Research Program for the National Academy of Sciences, committee chair for the Hill Impact Prize Selection Committee, member of the board of directors for the National Security Innovation Council, and advisory board member for the Zyvex Corporation. Dr.Daniel received a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Civil Engineering and a Ph.D. in Engineering from UT Austin.
Sameer Pendharkar of Allen is senior fellow and vice president of technology development at Texas Instruments. Additionally, he is a member of the executive board of directors for the Semiconductor Research Corporation and currently serves as the board’s chair. Pendharkar received a degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from UT Austin.
Lawrence “Larry” Smith of Austin is chair of the board for Tokyo Electron U.S. He is a former chair and member of the SEMI North American Advisory Board. He also serves as chair of the board for Mobile Loaves and Fishes and previously served as chair of the board for Austin Habitat for Humanity. Smith received a Bachelor of Science in General Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Guy A. Schweppe of Austin is the senior vice president of Technology and Software Procurement at Dell Technologies. He previously served as a senior manager at Accenture. He is a member of the Texas A&M Supply Chain Consortium and the Texas A&M University MBA Employment Impact Board. Schweppe received a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University.
Jeffrey M. Smith of Cedar Park is the vice president of Infra Technology at Samsung Austin Semiconductor. He currently serves as an executive committee member of the Texas Association of Manufacturers. Mr. Smith received a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Iowa State University and a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma.
Eric Almgren is a managing director at Castle Peak Advisors, an Austin-based strategic advisory company for high technology companies. Almgren began his career designing microprocessor chips at Hewlett Packard and later joined LSI Logic, now Broadcom, where he oversaw marketing and sales of highly integrated circuits and played a pivotal role in establishing CoreWare. Almgren went on to co-found Silicon Image, Inc., a pioneering company in the development, sale, and licensing of high-speed serial circuits. At Silicon Image, Inc., Eric led the HDMI licensing business, leading Silicon Image, Inc., to become a top-five semiconductor licensing business. As CEO and chair of Keyssa, Inc., Almgren led disruptive innovations in high-speed wireless chips for customers that included Samsung, Amazon, Meta, Google, Intuitive Surgical, Foxconn, and LG. Almgren earned an MBA from UT Austin and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from University of California – Santa Barbara.
David (Jong Ho) Lee is the director of corporate strategy at Dongjin USA, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Dongjin Semichem Co., Ltd. (Dongjin). Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, Dongjin is a global chemical company specializing in the production of semiconductor, display, and energy materials, as well as foaming agents, generating more than $1 billion in annual revenue. Since joining Dongjin in 2019, Lee has primarily overseen large-scale overseas investment projects, including two ongoing projects in Texas for semiconductor material production. Dongjin Semichem Texas, Inc., is expected to invest over $100 million for the construction of a photoresist thinner production facility in Killeen. Similarly, DSM Semichem LLC, a joint venture among Dongjin USA, Inc., Samsung C&T America, Inc., and Martin ELSA Investment LLC, will initially invest at least $100 million for the construction of an electronic level sulfuric acid plant in Plainview. Lee holds an A.B. in Chemistry from Harvard University.
Joe Elabd, Ph.D. is the vice chancellor for research at the Texas A&M University System. He also serves as interim vice chancellor for engineering, Interim Dean of Texas A&M University’s College of Engineering, and Interim Director of the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station. Elabd is also a chemical engineering professor and Axalta Coating Systems Chair II at Texas A&M University. Elabd earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University.
S.V. Sreenivasan, Ph.D. is the Cockrell Family Regents Endowed Chair #7 in Engineering at UT Austin. He has published over 130 technical articles and holds over 100 U.S. patents in scalable nanotechnologies. He is also the director of the Nanosystems Engineering Research Center, founder and chief technology officer of the Texas Institute for Electronics, Inc., and a co-founder of Molecular Imprints Inc. Additionally, he is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering. Sreenivasan earned a Bachelor of Technology from the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, and a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University.
Additionally, the following individuals will serve on the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Consortium as designees of institutions of higher education:
- Diana Huffaker, Ph.D., of UT Arlington
- Roger Bonnecaze, Ph.D., of UT Austin
- Manuel Quevedo, Ph.D., of UT Dallas
- Miguel Velez-Reyes, Ph.D., of UT El Paso
- Can “John” Saygin, Ph.D., of UT RGV
- Howard Grimes, Ph.D., of UT San Antonio
- David Staak, Ph.D., of Texas A&M University
- Magesh Rajan, Ph.D., of Prairie View A&M University
- Ramanan Krishnamoorti, Ph.D., of University of Houston
- Nigel Shepherd, Ph.D., of University of North Texas
- Stephen Bayne, Ph.D., of Texas Tech
- Jonathan Hoekstra, of Texas State Technical College
- Shreek Mandayam, Ph.D., of Texas State University
- Jerry Lin, Ph.D., of Lamar University
- Wendy Elmore, Ed.D., of Lamar State College–Orange
- Ben Stafford, DrPH, of Lamar State College – Port Arthur