Information Science and Technology

Director

Adam Wierman
Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences; Director, Information Science and Technology
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IST Council Chair

Mr. James (Jim) Peterson (BS’74 APH)
Consulting Architect, Fusion-io
Jim Peterson works as a consulting architect for Fusion-io which was acquired by SanDisk. Prior to joining Fusion-io, Peterson spent three years as lead engineer at Remedy, where he managed the combined platform and applications teams for new and enhanced Remedy products. With over 25 years of experience in the management of computer software and hardware development, his specialty for the last 10 years has included web technologies and electronic publishing. Previously, Peterson served as vice president of engineering operations at Liberate Technologies, a developer of internet-based middleware for enhanced interactive television. He also directed engineering efforts for various Adobe Systems products, including FrameMaker and PostScript. Mr. Peterson has a bachelor's degree in applied physics from Caltech, as well as a master’s degree in engineering from UCLA.
Joined Council: January 2015

Steering Committee

Anima Anandkumar
Bren Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
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Azita Emami
Andrew and Peggy Cherng Professor of Electrical Engineering and Medical Engineering; Investigator, Heritage Medical Research Institute
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Peter Schroeder
Shaler Arthur Hanisch Professor of Computer Science and Applied and Computational Mathematics
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Chris Umans
Professor of Computer Science; Executive Officer for Computing and Mathematical Sciences
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Thomas Vidick
Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
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IST Advisory Council

This council, composed of leaders in information science and technology, helps increase national and global awareness of IST research and garner support for it.

Michael Amori (Adv Coun-HSS, Assoc, MS'07APH)
Co- founder and CEO of Virtualitics, a Data Analytics platform in VR/AR. Previously was Managing Director and headed a quantitative trading group at Deutsche Bank in London and New York. Designed the group’s data science and risk management systems. Raised money for and was technical advisor to the bank’s first insurance- linked fund. Lead author in published paper on insurance markets. Speaker at various industry seminars/conferences. Previously was interest rates derivatives trader at Credit Suisse and Bankers Trust, and prior to that was analyst at Goldman Sachs in Energy & Telecommunications Group. Member of Board of Caltech’s finance and economics department (HSS division), judge at the LA County Junior High Physics Science Fair. MBA Harvard, MS Applied Physics Caltech, BS Physics Columbia University.

Vineer Bhansali, PhD
Founder and CIO, LongTail Alpha, LLC
Vineer Bhansali is the Chief Investment Officer of LongTail Alpha, LLC, a firm specializing in investments related to rare but significant events. His 24-year investment career started at Citibank, where he founded and managed the Exotic and Hybrid Options Trading Desk. He later joined Salomon Brothers in its Fixed Income Arbitrage Group, followed by the CSFB Proprietary Trading Group. Dr. Bhansali was at PIMCO for 16 years, serving the last eight years as MD and Head of Quantitative Portfolios, which he founded in 2008. Among other responsibilities, he was the lead PM for the PIMCO TRENDS Managed Futures Strategy Fund, the PIMCO Tail Risk Hedging Funds, PIMCO RealRetirement and RealPath Funds, and PIMCO’s indexed ETFS. He was also co-PM of the PIMCO Global Multi-Asset Fund, PIMCO Global Relative Value Fund and PIMCO Distressed Senior Credit Opportunities Fund. Dr. Bhansali also managed and designed all of PIMCO’s analytics from 2000 to 2010. He has written four books on finance: “Pricing and Managing Exotic and Hybrid Options”; “Fixed Income Finance: A Quantitative Approach”; “Bond Portfolio Investing and Risk Management”; and his most recent, “Tail Risk Hedging”, and authored over 25 refereed papers on topics as varied as option pricing, fixed income, tail hedging, asset allocation and economics in leading Journals that include the Journal of Finance, Financial Analysts’ Journal, Journal of Portfolio Management, and Journal of Risk. He has received numerous awards, including the Graham and Dodd Scroll Award and TIME magazine’s college achievement award. Under Bhansali’s leadership, PIMCO received the Risk Manager of the Year Award in the asset-management category in 2002 from Risk Magazine. Dr. Bhansali received his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from Harvard University in 1992 and M.S. and B.S. degrees in Physics from Caltech in 1987. He is an ATP rated pilot with over two thousand hours in aircraft including jets and helicopters. He has run over thirty five ultramarathons, including winning a silver buckle at the Western States 100 mile Endurance Run, the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc, and the Angeles Crest Endurance Run.

Mr. Sabeer Bhatia (BS’91 EE) TRUSTEE
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Sabse Technologies Inc.
Sabeer Bhatia is the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Sabse Technologies Inc., a company in the mobile telecom space that is creating a global Wi-Fi first mobile virtual network operator in the emerging markets. Its goal is to harness the ubiquity and increasing availability of Wi-Fi around the globe to provide a lower-cost and better alternative to just cellular-based communication. Bhatia is also the co-founder of Amp Technologies, a company that is revolutionizing the real estate industry. A pioneer in the field of web-based email, Bhatia co-founded Hotmail Corporation in 1996. As president and CEO, he guided Hotmail’s rapid rise to industry leadership and its eventual acquisition by Microsoft in 1998. Hotmail has now transitioned to Outlook, which remains one of the largest email providers in the world. Bhatia’s visionary contribution to the Internet revolution has earned him widespread acclaim. Mr. Bhatia received a BS degree in electrical engineering from Caltech and an MS degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University. He was elected to the Caltech board of trustees in January 2016.
Joined Council: November 2010

Mr. John Chen (MS’79 EE) TRUSTEE
CEO, Blackberry, Inc.
John Chen is a distinguished leader in the technology industry, noted especially as a highly effective turnaround CEO. He is now executive chairman of BlackBerry’s board of directors and CEO. Formerly serving as chairman and CEO of Sybase, Chen reinvigorated the technology company, growing it to exceed $1.5 billion. Under his direction, Sybase became the leading provider of enterprise mobility and mobile commerce solutions, achieving 55 consecutive quarters of profitability. Chen is actively involved in international relations, testifying before Congress on U.S.-China trade relations. President George W. Bush appointed him to serve on the President’s Export Council. Chen also co-chaired the Secure Borders and Open Doors advisory committee, and chaired the U.S.-China Policy Advisory Roundtable for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (DSIS). Mr. Chen graduated from Brown University with a BA in electrical engineering and holds an MS in electrical engineering from Caltech. He was elected to the Caltech board of trustees in 2008.
Joined Council: April 2010

Mr. Wenchi Chen (MS’84 CS) TRUSTEE
President and Chief Executive Officer, VIA Technologies Inc.
Wenchi Chen has been president and CEO of VIA Technologies Inc. since 1992, overseeing the company’s transition from chipset designer to leading developer of energy-efficient processor platforms. VIA has won accolades for anticipating early the drive for power efficiency and for pioneering small form factors at both the silicon and platform level, and today is driving system innovation in the embedded and intelligent display markets. Chen took over the chairmanship of VIA in August 2015. He also sits on the board of directors or acts as advisor to numerous companies within the IT industry, including HTC Corporation, the leading supplier of cutting-edge smartphones. Mr. Chen received an MS in electrical engineering from National Taiwan University and an MS in Computer Science from Caltech. He was elected to the Caltech board of trustees in 2012.
Joined Council: December 2009

Dr. William (Bill) Coughran (BS’75 MA; MS’75 MA)
Partner, Sequoia Capital
Bill Coughran is a technologist specializing in large-scale computing and networking systems. He joined Sequoia Capital in 2011, as a partner and coach to start-up founders, helping them build effective engineering-centric organizations. Coughran’s career in computer science spans more than three decades. Early on, he worked with Bell Labs, and from 1998 to 2000, he founded and was senior vice president of Bell Labs Research Silicon Valley. In 2000, he co-founded Entrisphere, which was acquired by Ericsson. Coughran joined Google as an engineering director responsible for infrastructure systems in early 2003, and later became senior vice president for research and systems infrastructure. For much of his tenure, he served on Google’s executive committee, and he continues to be an advisor to Google. Coughran has authored over 50 publications, served on various academic boards and non-profit boards, and currently serves on the board of several start-up companies. He has also held adjunct and consulting faculty positions at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule in Zurich, Duke University, and Stanford University. In addition to his BS and MS degrees in mathematics from Caltech, Dr. Coughran holds MS and PhD degrees in computer science from Stanford University.
Joined Council: February 2012

Vivek Sharma
Vivek Sharma builds & grows businesses through AI, Data and Digital. Vivek’s executive roles include CEO of InStride, a Los Angeles based EdTech company he cofounded in 2019. Under his leadership for four years, InStride grew to a profitable 200-person company, helping employees in 41 large corporations avoid $630 Million of student debt, for which it was named to Fortune’s ‘Global Impact 20’ list. Prior to InStride, Vivek spent six years at The Walt Disney Company as Senior Vice President, Digital Guest Experience & eCommerce, leading a $10 Billion eCommerce business and serving 150 Million guests annually across theme parks, resorts, cruises, guided travel adventures, restaurants and retail businesses globally. In earlier stints, Vivek served at Yahoo for four years as General Manager of Yahoo Mail & Messenger and Vice President of Yahoo Search, and at McKinsey & Company for eight years as Associate Partner of technology practice. Vivek serves as board director for Kaiser Permanente and JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU), where he also chairs the Technology committee. He is an adjunct professor of data science at University of Southern California, teaching the graduate course ‘Digital Foundations to Business Innovation’. Vivek is the author of two books - "C-SPARK: CEO-led Workforce Education for the AGE of AND" & "WIREFRAMED: Simplifying Digital Innovation for Business Leaders", as well as two HBR articles - ‘It's Time for Boards to Take AI Seriously’ & '6 Ways AI Could Disrupt Your Business'. He is also a strategic advisor to startup CEOs on GTM/growth, product development and governance/leadership. Vivek graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi and holds an MBA from INSEAD, France.

Dr. Evangelos Simoudis (BS’83 EE)
Founder and Managing Director, Corporate Innovation Ventures
Evangelos Simoudis is founder and managing director of Corporate Innovation Ventures. The firm advises global corporations on startup-driven innovation and invests in early stage, revenue-generating startups developing big data applications. Simoudis served as managing director at Trident Capital from 2005-2015, investing in companies focused on data and analytics, SaaS applications, and mobility. Prior to joining Trident, he was a partner at the venture capital firm Apax Partners, and president and CEO of Customer Analytics, a venture backed eCRM company. He took Customer Analytics from inception to a $30 million business with operations in North America and Europe. Simoudis is also an advisor to global corporations on innovation and information technology. A recognized thought leader on corporate innovation, big data, cloud computing, and digital marketing platforms, he is a frequent speaker and contributor in these topics. Prior to his investing and advisory career, Simoudis had a 20-year career in high-technology executive roles, including two startup CEO positions. Dr. Simoudis holds a BA in physics from Grinnell College, a BS in electrical engineering from Caltech, and a PhD in computer science from Brandeis University.
Joined Council: April 2013

Mr. Charles (Charlie) Trimble (BS’63 EE; MS’64 EE) TRUSTEE
Founder and Former CEO, Trimble Navigation, LTD.
Charlie Trimble is the founder and former CEO of Trimble Navigation, Ltd., a leading developer of commercial equipment utilizing the Global Positioning System (GPS). He led the company from a start-up in 1978 through a public offering in 1990. Trimble Navigation was largely responsible for the commercialization of GPS. At the time of Trimble’s departure in 1998, the company was the dominant worldwide supplier of GPS equipment. He holds four patents in signal processing and several in Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. Since leaving the company, he has mentored start-ups and served on boards of directors, both public and private. Trimble is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Council on Foreign Relations. He served on the NASA Advisory Council, the National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative, the Silicon Valley Defense/Space Consortium and as chair of the United States Global Positioning System Industry Council. Mr. Trimble earned his BS in engineering and applied science and his MS in electrical engineering, both from Caltech. He was elected to the Caltech Board of Trustees in 2002.
Joined Council: November 2012

Dr. Luojia (Luke) Wang (PHD’97 CE)
Luke Wang is a self-professed serial entrepreneur and investor. He started his career in management consulting and later founded engineering, consumer goods, and software companies. Wang is a member of Tech Coast Angels, the largest angel investor group in the United States. Its members provide funding and guidance to early-stage, high-growth companies in Southern California. He is also a member of Pasadena Angels, and has invested in over two dozen early stage companies across various sectors. He currently spends most of his time launching Visual Technology Inc., which provides frontline inter-company communication and transaction software solution for buyers at major retailers and sales at retail suppliers. Formerly, Wang was a managing partner of Venture Spring Capital and an associate with Mitchell Madison Group. Dr. Wang earned his PhD degree in civil engineering from Caltech.

Jerrell Watts
Jerrell Watts is currently the Head of Algorithmic Trading at Point72, where he is responsible for a number of quantitative trading efforts across the firm’s discretionary and systematic investing businesses. He was previously the Head of Algorithmic Execution and Order Routing at Citadel LLC. At Citadel, he served in quantitative research roles on both the asset management and broker-dealer (Citadel Securities) sides of the business. Prior to Citadel, he was a high frequency portfolio manager at Merrill Lynch. Before Merrill Lynch, he was the founder and head of the automated market making effort in equity options at Lehman Brothers, having previously worked on a similar project at Morgan Stanley. He began his career in finance as a quantitative developer at D. E. Shaw & Co. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the California Institute of Technology. He was born and grew up in Odessa, Texas.

Dr. Telle Whitney (MS’81 CC; PhD’85 CS)
President and Chief Executive Officer, Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
Telle Whitney is President and CEO of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. A long-time friend and colleague of Institute founder Dr. Anita Borg (1949-2003), Whitney has over 20 years of experience in the semiconductor and telecommunications industries and has a longstanding commitment to increasing the presence and impact of women in technology. Whitney was part of the founding management team at Malleable Technologies, a startup in the programmable communication area. Malleable was acquired by PMC-Sierra in June 2000 and she served as Vice President of Engineering at Malleable until its acquisition. Prior to joining Malleable, Whitney was an executive at Actel Corporation, where she held a number of diverse positions in the software engineering and chip design area. In 1994, Whitney co-founded the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC) conference, along with Dr. Anita Borg. Today, the GHC conference is one of the Borg Institute's flagship events, and the largest technical gathering for women in the world. Dr. Whitney earned her BS in computer science from the University of Utah and MS and PhD degrees in computer science from Caltech.
Joined Council: September 2007

IST Affiliates

This select group of supporters helps the IST director fund priorities throughout the year. Current supporters include:

Dr. Marina Chen (MS’80 CS; PHD’83 CS)
Marina Chen is an independent consultant. She was most recently a professor and chair of the computer science department at Boston University. Previously she was the president of Cooperating Systems Corporation, a consulting services company that provided rapid software prototyping and technology planning for advanced research and development in academia and industry. Chen has also been an associate professor of computer science at Yale. She serves on numerous committees in the research community, has served as editor for technical publications and as chair for conferences and workshops. Chen's research interests have included parallel processing, high performance computing software, compiler construction, and formal methods for software development. Her research efforts at Boston University included the design and implementation of Fortran 90 compilers for high performance platforms, and the development of programming abstractions and object oriented class libraries for adaptive distributed data structures. Chen helped launch the Metacenter Affiliated Resource in the New England Region (MARINER) project, a collaboration of Boston University's Computer Science Department and BU's Center for Computational Science. The project established Boston University as a regional resource for advanced computational infrastructure technologies. Chen has served as a consultant to Scientific Computing Associates, Floating Point Systems, Silicon Compilers, and Caltech's Computer Science Department. Dr. Chen received her BS in computer science from National Taiwan University and her MS and PhD degrees in computer science from Caltech.

Mr. Wenchi Chen (MS’84 CS) TRUSTEE and Ms. Cher Wang
Wenchi Chen has been president and CEO of VIA Technologies Inc. since 1992, overseeing the company’s transition from chipset designer to leading developer of energy-efficient processor platforms. VIA has won accolades for anticipating early the drive for power efficiency and for pioneering small form factors at both the silicon and platform level, and today is driving system innovation in the embedded and intelligent display markets. Chen also sits on the board of directors or acts as advisor to numerous companies within the IT industry, including HTC Corporation, the leading supplier of cutting-edge smartphones. Mr. Chen received an MS in electrical engineering from National Taiwan University and an MS in computer science from Caltech. He was elected to the Caltech board of trustees in 2012. Cher Wang has established a number of successful IT-related businesses, including founding VIA Technologies, Inc. in 1987 and co-founding HTC Corporation in 1997. She is currently chairwoman of both companies and is CEO of HTC. She holds leadership roles in numerous other enterprises and organizations. Wang is active in the international business community, participating as an Industry Partner at the World Economic Forum and as a member of the APEC Business Advisory Council. In 2010, Wang co-founded the ABAC Women’s Forum to identify capacity-building policy recommendations that enhance opportunities for women in business, and to hold outreach activities within APEC economies. Ms. Wang from the University of California, Berkeley with an ME degree in economics. In 2009, Chen and Wang founded the VIA non-profit Faith, Hope and Love Foundation which supports improving living conditions of disadvantaged individuals in rural areas of China, as well as assisting with post-disaster reconstruction projects throughout the country.

Dr. Edmund (Ed) Cheng (MS’73 EE; PHD’76 EE)
Ed Cheng is president and CEO of Gradient Design Automation Inc. Formerly, he was vice president of marketing for the Silicon engineer group of Synopsys, Inc., the leading provider of computer chip design software systems. Prior to joining Synopsys, Cheng was president and CEO of Anagram, Inc., where he launched a circuit simulator that generated high worldwide sales to support a lucrative buy-out by Avant. Cheng managed the automotive and signal processing design department at Intel until the division was moved to Arizona in 1981. He then co-founded Silicon Compilers, Inc. to build design automation systems for high-speed and high-complexity ICs. SCI merged with Silicon Design Labs in 1987 to form Silicon Compiler Systems Corporation, and Cheng served as vice president of research & development. When SCS was acquired by Mentor Graphics in 1990, he became the director of strategic programs. Cheng is a charter member of Idealflow Angel Fund, LLC, an "early stage" venture capital group founded by 14 high-tech entrepreneurs, including 9 Caltech alumni. Dr. Cheng earned his BS degree in electrical engineering from Ohio University, and his MS and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from Caltech.

Dr. William (Bill) Coughran (BS’75 MA; MS’75 MA)
Bill Coughran is a technologist specializing in large-scale computing and networking systems. He joined Sequoia Capital in 2011, as a partner and coach to start-up founders, helping them build effective engineering-centric organizations. Coughran’s career in computer science spans more than three decades. Early on, he worked with Bell Labs, and from 1998 to 2000, he founded and was senior vice president of Bell Labs Research Silicon Valley. In 2000, he co-founded Entrisphere, which was acquired by Ericsson. Coughran joined Google as an engineering director responsible for infrastructure systems in early 2003, and later became senior vice president for research and systems infrastructure. For much of his tenure, he served on Google’s executive committee, and he continues to be an advisor to Google. Coughran has authored over 50 publications, served on various academic boards and non-profit boards, and currently serves on the board of several start-up companies. He has also held adjunct and consulting faculty positions at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule in Zurich, Duke University, and Stanford University. In addition to his BS and MS degrees in mathematics from Caltech, Dr. Coughran holds MS and PhD degrees in computer science from Stanford University.

Dr. Lounette Dyer (MS’87 CS; PHD’91 CS) TRUSTEE
After spending over 25 years in the software industry, Lounette Dyer is now working in the renewable-energy industry as general manager of Shambhala Energy Co., Ltd., a Hong Kong based renewable-energy investor. Shambhala Energy’s initial focus is on building a global portfolio of solar PV projects that it will own and operate, including plants in Italy, the United States, and Asia. Prior to launching Shambhala Energy, Dyer was a renewable-energy consultant based in Thailand. She worked on carbon-reduction projects in Maldives and Thailand and advised solar-panel manufacturers and renewable-energy investors in Mainland China. Prior to moving to Bangkok, Dyer worked for the global energy company AES and helped them develop and launch AES Solar, a $1 billion joint venture with Riverstone Holdings to develop a global solar PV independent power-producer business. Dr. Dyer received her BS in mathematics, computer science, and music from Western Michigan University, and her MS and PhD in computer science from Caltech. She was elected to the Caltech board of trustees in 1998.

Liying Huang
Liying (Lily) Huang was in the first class to enter university after the Cultural Revolution in China. At age 20, her B.S. math thesis on a new statistical modeling regarding optimized computational efficiency was selected for publication in the China National Education Journal. During her career in China, Liying established a computer training center to train and mentor young students and prepared them for the national programming competitions. She also built the computerized financial and accounting systems for both government and business. She developed a computerized data system for weather farecasting with the optimized data model. After emigrating to the US in the 1990s, Lily’s first job was involved in a Java development Kit (JDK) project with Sun Micro for a short period of time. With the advent of personal computing and the internet, cybersecurity became an important field. Liying decided to join Trend Micro, a leading global cybersecurity company and she has devoted her career to cybersecurity since then. During her tenure with Trend Micro, Lily led the R&D team to develop the first antivirus software in the market for IBM’s Lotus Notes and Domino which supports all platforms including IBM AS400 and IBM mainframe S390. She led the teams to develop an intelligent troubleshooting platform. Throughout her career, Lily and her teams have contributed significantly to the company’s product quality and customer experiences. Lily has demonstrated her strong leadership and collaboration skills. She has been recognized by Trend Micro with the Most Valuable Player award three times and retired as Senior Director of the core engineering at Trend Micro. Liying currently manages a private investment LLC and has been an active member of the IST Council since 2012, regularly supporting IST initiatives.

Mr. Robert (Ted) Jenkins (BS’65 ENG) TRUSTEE and Mrs. Ginger Jenkins
Ted Jenkins started his career at Fairchild Semiconductor Research and Development Laboratories as a process engineer in 1966. In 1968, he moved to Intel, where he held a variety of positions in water fabrication, ultimately leading the organization. He became manager of microprocessor/peripheral manufacturing in 1979 and general manager of the peripheral components division in 1980. In 1985, he relocated the division to Folsom, California, and in 1986 was appointed vice president and general manager of the memory components division. In 1990, Intel named Jenkins the vice president and director of corporate licensing, and by 1996, he was appointed chairman of Intel’s government affairs committee, which coordinated public policy and advocacy across the corporation. He retired from Intel in 1999, and served as an adjunct professor of communication studies at the California State University, Sacramento until 2010. Mr. Jenkins graduated from Caltech with a BS in engineering and an MS in electrical engineering. He was elected to the Caltech board of trustees in July 2005.

Walter Kortschak (MS ’82)
Walter Kortschak is executive chairman of SignalFire, a complete redesign of the modern venture capital firm. SignalFire is built on a cutting edge real-time platform and has built a network of expert advisors to address the biggest entrepreneur pain points. Prior to SignalFire, he was a fund advisor to several micro-VC firms in Silicon Valley and an active angel investor in several notable companies as AltSchool, ClassDojo, Evernote, First Republic Bank, Lyft, Palantir, Trade Desk, Twitter and Uber. Walter was a managing partner of Summit Partners for 26 years responsible for investing over $1.2 billion in 50 companies, returning over $7.6 billion in value, for an IRR of 86% with 22 IPOs and 23 M∓A transactions. Highlights of his career include backing McAfee as a 3-person start-up in 1991, which went public and was then sold in 2010 to Intel for $7.7 billion and investing in E-TEK Dynamics, a pioneer in optical networking in 1997, which grew to over $1 billion in revenue and was sold for $19 billion to JDS Uniphase. He started his venture career in 1985 at Crosspoint Venture Partners and is a six-time Forbes Midas List investor. He and his wife, Marcia have endowed the Kortschak Scholars in Computing and Mathematical Sciences Program at Caltech to attract exceptional graduate students in computer science and mathematics. Walter is an alumni of Caltech (MS 1982) and serves on the board of trustees.

Dr. Tzumu Lin (MS’81 CS; PHD’85 CS)
Tzumu Lin specializes in integrated circuit and system design for computer and communication systems. As Senior Vice President at VIA Technologies, Inc., Lin has guided the development of PC core logic chipsets and overseen VIA's remarkable transition from PC-centric technologies to system and communication platform solutions covering a series of quality and cost-effective system logic, graphics and multimedia, optical storage, networking, wireless and mobile communication technologies and products. Prior to joining VIA, Lin was co-founder and Vice President of Design Technology, Symphony Laboratories. He has also held the position of Director of Engineering at GS Technology and Design Manager for Silicon Compiler Systems, a key contributor to the engineering success of VIA's VLSI CAD tools. Dr. Lin received his MS and PhD degrees in computer science from Caltech.

Dr. Richard Murray (BS’85 EE)
Richard Murray joined the Caltech faculty in 1991 and is the Thomas E. and Doris Everhart Professor of Control and Dynamical Systems; former director of Information Science and Technology, and former chair of the division of Engineering and Applied Science at Caltech (2000-05). Prior to joining the Caltech faculty, Murray was a visiting lecturer at UC Berkeley, where he taught graduate-level classes in robotics. In addition to his academic work, Murray has worked as an engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he was assigned to work on the Galileo spacecraft, now orbiting Jupiter. In 1998-99, he was director of mechatronic systems at the United Technologies Research Center, where he managed a department of 80 engineers, technicians, and staff in the area of embedded systems and controls technology. Murray was awarded the 2006 Richard P. Feynman Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Dr. Murray earned his BS degree from Caltech, and his MS and PhD degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, all in electrical engineering. He also earned a PhD in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Mr. Daniel O’Dowd (BS’76 ENG) and Mrs. Amy O’Dowd
Dan O'Dowd founded Green Hills Software in 1982 and has serves as president and CEO. Green Hills optimizing compiler was the company’s first product designed and written by O’Dowd. Steve Jobs commissioned Green Hills to develop Apple’s C compiler for the first Macintosh, to develop the Macintosh application software. In the early 1990’s, O’Dowd designed the multi-debugger used for safety and security critical systems. O’Dowd also designed and wrote the INTEGRITY operating system that flies the Boeing 787, Airbus A380, and F-35 jet fighter. INTEGRITY also manages hundreds of top-secret military communications systems. Before founding Green Hills Software, O'Dowd was manager of compiler and operating system development at National Semiconductor. He joined National Semiconductor in 1978 to design the architecture for the NS32000 32-bit microprocessor. From 1976 to 1978, he worked at APh Technological Consulting, developing embedded development tools for microprocessors used for building the first hand held electronic games for Mattel home video games. Mr. O’Dowd earned his BS degree in engineering at Caltech.

Mr. Howard Oringer (MS’63 EE) and Mrs. Janice Oringer
Howard and Jan Oringer are strong advocates of the IST initiative at Caltech. They have provided the gift behind the “Jan and Howard Oringer Seminars” that are slated to run three times annually through 2017. The seminar aims to provide students with opportunities to discover new perspectives on current research efforts; examine the context of practical applications of research initiatives and their social and legal implications; and engage with speakers in the forefront of their fields. Howard Oringer is Managing Director of Communications Capital Group where he has served since 1994. He is also a management and operations advisor with Lakshmi Technologies LLC. Over the past 30 years, Oringer has held operating and management leadership roles in the telecommunications industry with an emphasis on planning and implementing major communications networks. Earlier in his career Oringer was president, chairman, and CEO of the board with Telesciences. Other board leadership roles have included service as chairman with Verilink Corporation, as well as with Tekelec and Ixia. Mr. Oringer earned a BS in engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology, an MS in electrical engineering from Caltech, and an MBA from Santa Clara University.

Dr. Dominic Orr (MS'76 PH; PhD'82 BI)
Dominic Orr has been president and CEO of Aruba Networks since April 2006, leading the company through a successful IPO in 2007. Aruba Networks contributed a wireless networking system to Caltech in 2007 – a great boon to campus life and communications, allowing universal wireless Internet access. He also leads Omano L.P., a Silicon Valley-based high technology investment company. Formerly, he served as president of the Content Networking Business Unit of Nortel Networks, after serving as chairman and CEO of Alteon WebSystems, which was acquired by Nortel in 2000 for $7.8 billion. His 20 years of experience in the network computing industry also includes senior management positions at Bay Networks, Hewlett Packard, and Hughes Aircraft. He was a charter member of the venture capital firm IdeaFlow Angel Fund with Sai-Wai Fu, David Lee, York Liao, Albert Yu, and several other Caltech alumni. Dr. Orr grew up on the island of Macau and in 1969, at age 18, left for the U.S. to pursue his education. He holds a BS in physics from City University of New York and an MS in physics and a PhD in biology, both from Caltech.

Dr. Gerhard Parker (BS’65 ENG; MS’66 EE; PHD’70 EE)
Jerry Parker is widely respected in the semiconductor industry for a 40-plus year career. He began his work in 1969 at Intel and was executive vice president of new business development when he retired from the company in 2001. From 1991-1998 he was general manager of the manufacturing and technology group. Prior to that, Parker was manager of technology development, where he was instrumental in defining and managing Intel’s technology development methodology and leadership strategy. Before that, Parker was director of quality assurance, responsible for establishing quality control and reliability engineering functions within the manufacturing operations. Parker has served as a board member and director for many companies including, FEI Company, Lattice Semiconductor Corporation, and Applied Materials Inc. He is also a trustee at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Parker holds BS, MS and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from Caltech.

Mr. James (Jim) Peterson (BS’74 APH)
Jim Peterson works as a consulting architect for Fusion-io which was acquired by SanDisk. Prior to joining Fusion-io, Peterson spent three years as lead engineer at Remedy, where he managed the combined platform and applications teams for new and enhanced Remedy products. With over 25 years of experience in the management of computer software and hardware development, his specialty for the last 10 years has included web technologies and electronic publishing. Previously, Peterson served as vice president of engineering operations at Liberate Technologies, a developer of internet-based middleware for enhanced interactive television. He also directed engineering efforts for various Adobe Systems products, including FrameMaker and PostScript. Mr. Peterson has a bachelor's degree in applied physics from Caltech, as well as a master’s degree in engineering from UCLA.

Dr. Evangelos Simoudis (BS’83 EE)
Evangelos Simoudis is founder and managing director of Corporate Innovation Ventures. The firm advises global corporations on startup-driven innovation and invests in early stage, revenue-generating startups developing big data applications. Simoudis served as managing director at Trident Capital from 2005-2015, investing in companies focused on data and analytics, SaaS applications, and mobility. Prior to joining Trident, he was a partner at the venture capital firm Apax Partners, and president and CEO of Customer Analytics, a venture backed eCRM company. He took Customer Analytics from inception to a $30 million business with operations in North America and Europe. Simoudis is also an advisor to global corporations on innovation and information technology. A recognized thought leader on corporate innovation, big data, cloud computing, and digital marketing platforms, he is a frequent speaker and contributor in these topics. Prior to his investing and advisory career, Simoudis had a 20-year career in high-technology executive roles, including two startup CEO positions. Dr. Simoudis holds a BA in physics from Grinnell College, a BS in electrical engineering from Caltech, and a PhD in computer science from Brandeis University.

Mr. Thomas (Tom) Tisch (BS’61 ENG) and Mrs. Rosemary Tisch
Tom Tisch is president of Tisch & Company of Saratoga, California, a high tech start-up venture capital firm. He is known to actively engage with his investment interests and has consulted with others providing strategy and technology transfer consulting. He describes himself as an “itinerant venture capitalist.” Tisch has led or been involved with investments in a variety of companies, including Software Publishing Corp., Stac Electronics, 3Com, Stratacom, Netrix Corp. and E*Trade. Earlier career roles include service as a vice president with E*Trade and with Mesa Ventures (another venture capital firm). Tisch has also been a venture capital vice president with the Northern California firms California Tech Investors, Portola Valley Venture Fund, L.F. Rothshild Underburg Towbin Ventures, MBW Management and Melchor Venture Management. He previously worked with Culbertson Industries. Tisch’s early career was with Hewlett-Packard. He was part of a 10-person group that developed HP’s first computer. Mr. Tisch holds a BA from Caltech in engineering, an MS from Stanford University in electrical engineering, and an MBA with an emphasis on marketing from Stanford University.

Mr. Charles (Charlie) Trimble (BS’63 EE; MS’64 EE) TRUSTEE and Ms. Liying Huang
Charlie Trimble is the founder and former CEO of Trimble Navigation, Ltd., a leading developer of commercial equipment utilizing the Global Positioning System (GPS). He led the company from a start-up in 1978 through a public offering in 1990. Trimble Navigation was largely responsible for the commercialization of GPS. At the time of Trimble’s departure in 1998, the company was the dominant worldwide supplier of GPS equipment. He holds four patents in signal processing and several in Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. Since leaving the company, he has mentored start-ups and served on boards of directors, both public and private. Trimble is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Council on Foreign Relations. He served on the NASA Advisory Council, the National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative, the Silicon Valley Defense/Space Consortium and as chair of the United States Global Positioning System Industry Council. Mr. Trimble earned his BS in engineering and applied science, and his MS in electrical engineering, both from Caltech. He was elected to the Caltech board of trustees in 2002.

Mr. Adam Weissman (BS’90 PH)
Adam Weissman is the co-founder and former CTO of Applied Semantics, Inc. Weissman has over twenty years of experience in software engineering, including five years of database application development programming, and five years in the PC game industry. At Electronic Arts and The 3DO Company, he specialized in the areas of artificial intelligence and multiplayer connectivity for real-time strategy games. His experience in application development includes independent consulting and work for a Los Angeles-based software firm, where he managed the creation of database application solutions for a number of clients. Mr. Weissman graduated from Caltech with a BS degree in physics, mathematics and astronomy.

Dr. Albert Y.C. Yu (BS’63 ENG) and Ms. Mary Bechmann
Prior to his death in March 2017, Albert Yu was the chairman of OneAngstrom LLC, and active in investing and mentoring high technology companies. Yu retired from Intel Corporation in 2002, after almost 30 years with the company. He was senior vice president, member of the corporate management committee, and general manager of the heart of Intel's business for 16 years: microprocessors, chipsets. Under his leadership, Intel's microprocessors became the highest volume microchips that power computers and the Internet, and propelled Intel to be the largest semiconductor company in the world. In addition, Yu led the development of Intel’s corporate strategy, spearheading its entry into the optoelectronics business and its extensive international expansions. Dr. Yu received his BS in engineering and applied science from Caltech, and his MS and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University. His wife, Ms. Mary Bechmann, survives Dr. Yu. Mary Bechmann earned a bachelor's degree in psychology at Princeton University and an MBA from Stanford University, and became a pioneer in the private equity world – as one of the first women in the venture capital business and then the first woman partner in a major buyout firm on Wall Street. After 20 years as a principal investor primarily in healthcare and consumer-related startup businesses, Bechmann became a private investor. She has been an active mentor to entrepreneurs – especially women – and a guest advisor and judge for Stanford Business School's entrepreneurship and venture capital classes. She is on the advisory board of Princeton's psychology department and a member of the Committee of 200 (the preeminent national organization of senior women executives and entrepreneurs).

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