Next Physics Careers Seminar on Oct. 1: Alumnus Dr. Matt Kim of QuantTera

The Fall 2015 Physics Careers seminar series continues on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015, with Dr. Matt Kim of QuantTera

Time: 11 a.m. on Thursday, October 1, 2015 (refreshments served at 10:30 a.m.)

Location: 204 Loomis Laboratory (Interaction Room)

Title:  My Journey With Entrepreneurship in Science

Speaker: Dr. Matt Kim, QuantTera

Abstract:   One never knows where the endeavors of science will lead, but it is always fascinating how adventures in the workings of nature can lead to diverse collaborations and travels that contradict the quiet lives of scientists. I will start off describing my entrepreneurial experience and how I believe this type of mind set is necessary for future aspiring engineers and scientists. The world has changed quite dramatically with the globalization of economies and the skills to be successful as an engineer and scientist has changed from a highly specialized skill set, which is still required, with an additional level of how to implement those scientific solutions in the world around us. There are numerous ways to start the describe this journey, so I will start with my professional experience, and end with the research my firm QuantTera has been involved with heterojunction devices, in particular lasers and transistors. This work is a goal that was initiated with my workings with numerous semiconductor manufacturing companies, and it really was a round about journey!

Bio: Dr. Matt Kim is the Founder and President of QuantTera (2004 to present, Scottsdale, AZ), a microelectronics research and development company that specializes in nano-engineered devices for photonic telecommunications and wireless applications.  He is responsible for the development of novel processes and device structures for improvements in device performance and for the design and manufacture of integrated photonic components and subsystems for communications applications. He specializes in the physics of low dimensional quantum based device structures.   He is an expert in the crystal growth of GaAs and InP based materials, the fabrication and testing of devices for microelectronic applications.   Through his career he has set-up many research and development labs through manufacturing facilities.

            He is also presently the Chairman of the Arizona Nanotechnology Cluster which is a 501c3 non-profit corporation for the nanotechnology education of the general public. The Arizona Nanotechnology Cluster provides many educational resources for students at the middle, high school and college levels as well as many programs for the general public. In 2006 Dr. Kim was recognized at the Governor’s Celebration of Innovation and awarded the Chairman’s Award for his contributions to technology in Arizona

            In 2000, Dr. Kim co-founded MicroLink Devices, Inc., a leading manufacturer of high performance transistors for cellular communications in Niles, IL. At MicroLink he was Vice President of Operations and supervised the transistor manufacturing program. From 1994 to 2000, Dr. Kim served as Principal staff scientist at Motorola’s corporate research laboratory, for prototyping high speed transistors, microwave devices and optical devices. From 1990 to 1994, Dr. Kim was a senior scientist at Bandgap Technology Corporation where he was in charge of the characterization of transistors and LASERs for telecommunication applications.

            He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, and has a B.S. in engineering physics from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He is member of the American Physical Society and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the engineering honor society Tau Beta Pi.

You can see the rest of the Fall 2015 Physics Careers Seminar series here: http://physics.illinois.edu/events/seminars.asp?cal=4014