Mike Powers
Over his 25 year career in industry, Mike established a track record of sustained high performance in the areas of technology development and technical project leadership. He championed a number of innovative design and development concepts with enterprise wide impact that resulted in eight U.S. patents, over forty technical publications and multiple awards.
Summary of Qualifications
- Demonstrated ability to effectively lead global cross-functional product development teams.
- Advanced skills in creative analytical problem solving and failure/root cause analysis.
- Accomplished in new product introduction, quality and metrology processes and systems.
- Experienced and knowledgeable in a wide range of fabrication and manufacturing technologies.
- Independent and self-motivated with adept leadership, presentation and communication skills.
Industrial Experience
June 2009 — November 2015 Keysight Technologies (formerly Agilent Technologies), Santa Rosa, CA 95403
Senior R&D IC Engineer supporting the High Frequency Technology Center
- Project leader for $1.6M e-beam evaporation systems capital acquisition/capacity enhancement project.
- Developed next generation physical vapor metal deposition processes for new III-V device platforms.
- Successfully developed and introduced a wafer level bonding processes for MEMS switches.
- Improved yields for e-beam evaporation processes to > 97% over three years.
November 2006 — June 2009 Agilent Technologies, Santa Rosa, CA, 95403
Materials and Engineering Scientist in the Microsystems Technology Center
- Technical Lead for the HPLC Metal Microfluidics project which enabled $63M/year in revenue.
- Metallurgist for the MEMS RF Switch development team.
- Technical Lead for enterprise wide RoHS project that eliminated Cr6 from all Agilent products.
April 2005 — November 2006 Agilent Technologies, Santa Rosa, CA 95403
Manufacturing Development Engineer supporting the Precision Mesoscale Technology Center
- Managed the direct transfer of $15M package assembly business to CMs in Penang, Malaysia.
- Technical Lead for enterprise wide Product Environmental Regulations Technical Advisory Group.
- Responsible for the release of the Agilent General Specification for the Environment.
October 2002 — April 2005 Agilent Technologies, Santa Rosa, CA 95403
R&D Engineer supporting the Worldwide Process and Technology Centers
- Technical Lead for the Reactive Joining Advanced Technology Development project.
- Developed novel new processes for soldering components into and hermetic lid sealing of hybrid microelectronic package assemblies using exothermic reactive foil as a local heat source.
August 2001 — October 2002 Agilent Technologies, Santa Rosa, CA 95403
R&D Engineer supporting Agilent Engineering Services
- Technical Lead for the Materials Lifecycle Risk Assessment project.
- Designed and implemented a process for identifying high risk components in new products to mitigate costly redesign loops and lifetime buys resulting in $60M of annual cost savings.
- Project Engineer for deployment of the Firedam/MatrixOne enterprise wide PDM application.
July 1996 — August 2001 Agilent Technologies/Hewlett-Packard Company, Santa Rosa, CA 95403
Technical Contributor supporting the Precision Mechanical Technology Center
- Project leader for 27 NPIs introduced into the manufacturing and assembly areas of PMTC.
- Responsible for the design, development and documentation of hybrid microelectronic packaging for application to wireless, telecommunication and medical test and measurement instrumentation.
- Consultant to the technical staff on new technologies, manufacturing processes and materials.
November 1990 — July 1996 Hewlett Packard Company, Santa Rosa, CA 95403
Manufacturing Developmental Engineer supporting the Microwave Technology Division
- Responsible for the quality, cost and reliability of glass-to-metal seals, connectors and hermetic microwave and lightwave package assemblies used in HP test and measurement instruments.
- Identified, investigated and solved causes of technical manufacturing problems resulting in an improvement in overall process yields from 64% to over 97% in a five year period.
Academic Experience
March 2001 — June 2015 University of California at Davis, Davis, CA 95616
Adjunct Instructor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
- Co-developed EMS 188 Materials in Engineering Design.
- Instructor for ABET accredited EMS 188, a capstone senior level design projects course.
- Regular guest lecturer in Department of Materials Science and Biomedical Engineering.
- Instructor for U.C. Davis Extension course Joining of Advanced Engineering Materials (MSE501).