PEOPLE & PLACES UPDATE

SEMI chairman namedArchie Hwang, chairman and CEO of

Hermes-Epitek has been named

chairman of SEMI’s international board

of directors, succeeding Ed Segal, senior

advisor to Metron Technology. Also

elected to the board were Wasuke

Nakano, CEO, vice president, and

general manager of Hitachi High-

Technologies’ Semiconductor

Equipment Business Group and Richard

P. Wallace, CEO of KLA-Tencor Corp.

Jerry Coder, president emeritus of

DuPont Electronic Technologies

becomes vice chairman of the board.

21st century role modelPatricia F. Russo, chairman and CEO of

Lucent Technologies, is to head up the

new company formed when Alcatel and

Lucent Technologies merge at the end

of 2006. “This merger will create a

world-class team that will deliver the

best of both companies to customers

around the world, and will create

enhanced value for shareholders,” she

says. “To that end, we are mapping

each company’s individual strengths to

the changing market dynamics

reshaping our industry and adopting

best practices across the business of

the combined company. From R&D to

sales, from product development to

marketing, from finance to talent

development, we are committed to

being a role model company for the

21st century.”

Material change toBayer boardBayer MaterialScience has appointed

Patrick W. Thomas as chairman of the

board of management, succeeding

Hagen Noerenberg, who retires at the

end of 2006 after 30 years with the

company. Thomas, who has an

engineering degree from the University

of Oxford, has held positions at ICI and

Huntsman. “I’m looking forward to

working in a company with such a rich

tradition as Bayer,” says Thomas. “I’m

very optimistic about the future of

Bayer MaterialScience.”

She’s worth itMichelle L. Povinelli of Stanford

University has been named one of five

recipients of 2006 L’Oréal USA

Fellowships. She will receive $20 000 to

support her research in nanophotonic

systems. Povinelli’s work will focus on

slow light in photonic devices.

A light for scienceScientists at Diamond Light

Source in Harwell, UK, have

announced a major

developmental milestone – the

first generation of synchrotron

light. The light is channeled

into research stations termed

beamlines, where its

interaction with a sample

gives information about its atomic structure.

“Diamond is more than just a machine,” says Gerhard

Materlik, CEO of Diamond Light Source, “we are

creating a vibrant research base together with the UK

academic community and industry users, enabling us

to deliver excellent and high-quality science to benefit

generations to come. The concept of scientific

collaboration is embodied in the design of Diamond

itself – the building contains not only the synchrotron

machine, but also a variety of laboratory and office

space that will encourage interaction within the user

community, fostering creative relationships and

permitting the sharing of ideas.”

Nakamura wins MillenniumTechnology PrizeThe 2006 Millennium Technology Prize has been

awarded to Shuji Nakamura of the University of

California, Santa Barbara for his work on light-emitting

diodes (LEDs). The world’s largest technology prize,

now being awarded by Finland’s Millennium Prize

Foundation, has a value of $1.25 million and is

awarded every second year for an innovation that

improves the quality of human life and well being.

“The lighting applications now made possible by his

achievement can be compared with Thomas Edison’s

invention of the incandescent lamp. In the course of

time, energy-efficient light sources based on Shuji

Nakamura’s innovation will undoubtedly become

predominant,” says Pekka Tarjanne, chairman of the

international selection committee.

New direction in physicalsciences and maths The National Science Foundation (NSF) has named

Tony F. Chan, dean of physical sciences at the

University of California, Los Angeles, as assistant

director for Mathematics and Physical Sciences at NSF.

Chan will manage research funding of approximately

$1 billion a year to support astronomy, physics,

chemistry, mathematics, materials science, and

multidisciplinary activities.

Fusion approach tonanotechnologyThe Georgia Institute of Technology’s Nanotechnology

Research Center has named James D. Meindl, who

currently heads Georgia Tech’s Joseph M. Pettit

Microelectronics Research Center, as its founding

director. He will lead the center’s efforts to discover

breakthrough nanotechnologies using a combination of

disciplines. “Future breakthroughs comparable to the

microchip in their impact may be possible through a

fusion of discoveries in physical and biological science

and engineering enabled by nanotechnology. The

Georgia Tech Nanotechnology Research Center will be

the first center in the US to focus primarily on this

exciting and inspiring fusion,” says Meindl.

Energy facility acceleratescommercialization A new science and technology facility has opened at

the Department of Energy’s National Renewable

Energy Laboratory in Colorado. The 21 640 m2 facility

is designed to help accelerate the development and

commercialization of new energy technologies,

particularly in solar, hydrogen, and building-related

energy technologies. The facility has space for 75 full-

time researchers and features a process development

and integration lab, which will allow researchers to

collaborate on new manufacturing processes.

Engineering change at DFGMatthias Kleiner has been named as the next president

of the German research foundation, Deutsche

Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). The first engineering

scientist to be appointed to this role, Kleiner will take

over from Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker on 1 January 2007.

“Engineering scientists are obliged to bear the

technical and economic responsibility for the

conversion of research findings and innovation into

useful inventions and end products that benefit...

society as a whole,” comments Kleiner.

Spotlight on appointmentsRoger Falcone has been appointed as the new director

of the Advanced Light Source (ALS) at Lawrence

Berkeley National Laboratory. His predecessor, Janos

Kirz, comments, “I am thrilled. Roger is... a terrific

choice to lead ALS to even greater achievements.”

Leah H. Jamieson has been appointed dean of the

Purdue University College of Engineering. “It [will be]

important for us to build new research communities...,

grow and enhance the graduate program, and

revolutionize the undergraduate curriculum,” she says.

Please send details of new appointments, honors, and awards to materialstoday@elsevier.com

OCTOBER 2006 | VOLUME 9 | NUMBER 10 61