William G. Howard

Ramtron International Corp. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells specialty high performance semiconductor memory devices. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Colorado Springs, CO.

Xilinx, Inc. engages in the design and development of programmable logic semiconductor devices and the related software design tools. It also provides design services, customer training, field engineering, and technical support. The company was founded by Ross Freeman, Bernard Vonderschmitt, and James V. Barnett in February 1984 and is headquartered in San Jose, CA.

Credence Systems Corporation is the industry provider of design-to-test solutions for the global semiconductor industry. By applying leading-edge technology to lower the overall cost-of-test, Credence delivers competitive cost and performance advantages to integrated device manufacturers, wafer foundries, outsource assembly and test suppliers and fabless chip companies worldwide. Credence was founded in 1978 and is publicly traded on the Nasdaq stock market under the symbol CMOS. Headquartered in Milpitas, California, Credence maintains a worldwide presence in twenty countries.

BEI Technologies, Inc. is an established manufacturer of electronic sensors, motors, actuators, rotary optical encoders, linear encoders with associated digital readouts (DROs), and motion control products used for factory and office automation, medical equipment, military, aviation and space systems. In addition, sales to manufacturers of transportation equipment, including automobiles, trucks and off-road equipment, have become a addition to the Company's business in recent years. The Company's micromachined quartz rate sensors are being used in advanced vehicle stability control systems and a significant increase in the production of those sensors had been in progress from the middle of 1998. It is located in Sylmar, CA.

Motorola, Inc. provides seamless mobility products and solutions across broadband, embedded systems and wireless networks. Motorola is engaged in providing technologies, products and services for mobile phones. Its portfolio includes wireless handsets, wireless accessories, digital entertainment devices, wireless access systems, voice and data communications systems, and enterprise mobility products. The company operates through three business segments, including Mobile Devices Segment, Home and Networks Mobility Segment and Enterprise Mobility Solutions Segment. The Mobile Devices segment designs, manufactures, sells and services wireless handsets with integrated software and accessory products, and licenses intellectual property. The Home and Networks Mobility segment designs, manufactures, sells, installs and services: (i) digital video, Internet Protocol video and broadcast network interactive set-tops, end-to-end video delivery systems, broadband access infrastructure platforms, and associated data and voice customer premise equipment to cable television and telecom service providers, and (ii) wireless access systems, including cellular infrastructure systems and wireless broadband systems, to wireless service providers. The Enterprise Mobility Solutions segment designs, manufactures, sells, installs and services analog and digital two-way radio, voice and data communications products and systems for private networks, wireless broadband systems and end-to-end enterprise mobility solutions to government and public safety agencies, as well as retail, energy and utilities, transportation, manufacturing, healthcare and other commercial customers. Motorola was founded on September 25, 1928 and is headquartered in Schaumburg, IL

Formed in 2000, Innovative Micro Technology (IMT) is a leading MEMS manufacturing partner with a diversified range of projects and products. IMT's overriding goal is to partner with companies to develop and manufacture products based on MEMS technology. The company was built for high-volume manufacturing and its 130,000 sq ft facility contains a 30,000 sq ft clean room/fab, the largest and best-equipped independent MEMS fab in the world. The management team has over 100 years of combined experience in high-technology manufacturing. IMT currently has 93 employees and 21 customers in diverse applications, including drug discovery, drug delivery, biomedical implants and cell purifiers, microfluidics, inertial navigation, optical telecommunications, printing, various sensors, night vision, IR emitters, telephone/DSL switching, RF devices, power management, and others.

Part of The National Academies of Science, the National Academy of Engineering operates as a professional membership organization. The company is based in Washington.

Thunderbird Technologies, Inc. advances transistor performance, provides exceptional reliability, and maintains compatibility in the semiconductor industry. The private company is based in Morrisville, NC.

Sandia National Laboratories develops science based technologies. The company provides research services in nuclear weapons, energy and infrastructure assurance, nonproliferation, and defense systems. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Albuquerque, NM.