Harnessing the Electrons, a Historical Perspective

Derek Cheung

Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 12:00pm
Engr IV Shannon Room 54-134

Abstract
In our everyday life, whether at work or at home, many of the essential functions are performed for us by zillions of electrons running around in tiny chips, and billions of coded electromagnetic waves flying in space at the speed of light. This is truly awe-inspiring. How human beings acquired all these knowledge? What is the journey like? How have we built a $280 billion chip industry and a $2.7 Trillion information related industry that employs over 200 million people world-wide?

This talk presents the human endeavor through the past 400 years that lead to today's immense success in harnessing the power of electrons. Emphasis is on the inter-play of science, technology, applications and market. Key individuals, important innovations and major tipping events that shaped the journey will be highlighted.

Knowing the history of electronic technology, like studying any other branch of history, is important for us. There are many crucial lessons that we can learn from the past, which in turn will inspire us to achieve even more down this ever unfolding journey.

Biography
Dr. Cheung was the founding Director of Institute for Technology Advancement (ITA) at UCLA. Prior to joining UCLA, Dr. Cheung was president of Teledyne Scientific and Imaging Inc. He was also the President and CEO of Rockwell Scientific Company, and Corporate Vice President for Research at Rockwell International Corporation. Dr. Cheung spent most of his career at Rockwell Science Center, from his initial technical participation in developing infrared focal plane arrays until becoming President and CEO. Through his 30 years of service, he led the transformation of the Center from a traditional corporate R&D lab into a stand alone, for-profit high-tech enterprise, Rockwell Scientific Company (RSC). His leadership at RSC resulted in the transition of numerous high-value technologies to various Rockwell business units, including aerospace-defense, communication systems, semiconductor, industrial automation, and automobile components. He was instrumental in the spin-out of three companies with venture capital partners. In 2006, he led the successful sale of RSC to Teledyne Technologies Inc.

Dr. Cheung has a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University, and MS/PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. He started his career at Fairchild Semiconductor R&D lab, involved in the early development of NMOS processing, ROM design, LED fabrication and CCD imagers. He served on the US Army Science Board, US Air Force Advisory Board on Electronics, Optics and Electro-Optics, Visiting Committee of Engineering & Applied Sciences Division for the California Institute of Technology, and the Industrial Advisory Committee for School of Engineering at UCLA. He is also currently an advisor to Hong Kong's ASTRI.