Dr. Inamori established Kyocera Corporation in Kyoto, Japan, in 1959. Today, Kyocera is a global leader in industrial and electronic ceramics; semiconductor packages; solar energy systems; medical and dental implants; telecommunications equipment; and document solutions equipment.

Dr. Inamori is an Honorary Member and Distinguished Life Member of ACerS, and former president of the Ceramic Society of Japan. Inamori received a B.S. in applied chemistry from Kagoshima University.

Dr. Joseph A. Miller, Jr. joined Corning Incorporated in July 2001 as senior vice president and chief technology officer. He was named to his current position in March 2002. Prior to joining Corning, Dr. Miller was with E.I. DuPont de Nemours, Inc., where he served as chief technology officer and senior vice president for Research & Development since 1994. He began his career with DuPont in 1966 as a research chemist in Polymer Science. He also held a variety of positions in research and development, manufacturing, business and marketing.

Dr. Miller received a Bachelor of Science degree from Virginia Military Institute and a doctorate in Chemistry from Penn State University. He is a member of numerous science and technology organizations including the National Academy of Engineering, American Association for the Advancement of Science-Fellow and the Industrial Research Institute. He is on the board of directors of Avanex Corporation, Wilson Greatbatch Technologies, Inc., and Dow Corning.

Rod Lanthorne is president of Kyocera's North American holding company. Kyocera supplies industrial and electronic components; semiconductor packages; solar energy systems; medical and dental implants; telecommunications equipment; and document solutions equipment.

Mr. Lanthorne was introduced to Kyocera in 1976 as a CPA for the accounting firm of Coopers and Lybrand, when he was involved in the initial public offering of Kyocera's American Depository Shares. He joined Kyocera in 1979 as Chief Financial Officer and was named President in 1987. Mr. Lanthorne was named as a director of parent Kyocera the following year, becoming one of the first Americans to be named as a director of a Japanese public corporation. Mr. Lanthorne is a graduate of the University of Kentucky.

Dr. Satyam Cherukuri joined Sarnoff as a researcher in 1989. He was named Managing Director of the company's Life Sciences and Systems unit in 1998, and became Sarnoff's Chief Operating Officer in 2001. Dr. Cherukuri assumed his current role as President and Chief Executive Officer on June 1, 2002. Prior to joining Sarnoff, he worked as a researcher at Olin Corporation and at Siemens.

Dr. Cherukuri earned a B.Tech in Ceramic Engineering from Banaras Hindu University, India. He received his M.S. in Glass Science and Ph.D. in Ceramics from Alfred University (Alfred, NY). He has authored or co-authored more than 12 technical publications and is the inventor or co-inventor on more than 25 U.S. Patents.

Larry Hench is professor emeritus, Imperial College of Science & Technology, London. Prior to his move to England in 1995, he spent 32 years at the University of Florida where he discovered Bioglass®, the first man-made material to bond to living tissues. Bioglass is used to repair bones, joints and teeth.

Tokuyuki Takahashi graduated from Waseda University in 1979 with a master's degree in science and engineering. He has been actively involved in many of Toyota's technological development programs, and has launched several collaborative research projects with leading universities.

In his earlier career with Toyota, Mr. Takahashi was in charge of developing the world's first, four-speed automatic transmission for the front-engine, front-wheel-drive Toyota Camry. In 1999, he joined the R & D Management Division, where he took part in formulating the company's overall technology strategies, as well as introducing lower-emission vehicles, promoting next-generation clean fuels and developing environmental technology strategies. In June 2005, he was made a managing officer.

Dr. Henry Kressel is a Managing Director and partner at Warburg Pincus LLC, a global private equity firm where he is responsible for investments in high technology companies. Over the past five years, he has been closely involved with the firm's international investments.

Dr. Kressel holds 31 U.S. patents covering various electronic and optoelectronic devices. He pioneered in the development and commercial introduction of the first practical semiconductor lasers. Prior to joining Warburg Pincus in 1983, he was the vice president at RCA Laboratories responsible for the worldwide research and development of optoelectronics, power devices, integrated circuits and associated software. A graduate of Yeshiva College, he received an M.S. from Harvard University, an M.B.A. from Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate in material science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Moskowitz is currently Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, President, and principal shareholder of Ceradyne, Inc. Ceradyne is an advanced technical ceramic corporation, co-founded in 1967 by Mr. Moskowitz. Ceradyne has grown from its founding to become a publicly-held corporation, with three domestic manufacturing locations fabricating and marketing advanced technical ceramics to industrial, aerospace, defense, medical and electronic markets.

Mr. Moskowitz obtained a B.S. in Ceramic Engineering from Alfred University in 1961 and a M.B.A. from the University of Southern California in 1967. After serving as an officer in the U.S. Missile Command and as a Research Engineer for Interpace Corporation, Mr. Moskowitz' entire career has been devoted to the development of advanced technical ceramics for a wide range of applications. Mr. Moskowitz' technical focus has been the development and commercialization of advanced structural ceramics for consumer, industrial and defense applications.

Debra L. Kaiser holds a B.S. (Lehigh University 1979), M.S. (Colorado School of Mines 1980) and Sc.D. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1985), all in materials science and engineering. After completing her graduate studies, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at IBM Research working on semi-magnetic semiconductors and high temperature superconductors. She has been a member of the Ceramics Division in the Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory at NIST since 1988 and has served as Chief of the Ceramics Division since 2003.

As Division Chief, she develops and leads research efforts in nanomechanics, x-ray metrology and standards, synchrotron materials research, functional materials and evaluated data. Dr. Kaiser has co-authored over 60 refereed journal publications on combinatorial methods for inorganic thin films, high-k gate dielectric films, ferroelectric films, and high temperature superconducting single crystals and films.

Katherine T. Faber is a Professor of Materials Science & Engineering at Northwestern University, where she also has served as department chair and associate dean for research and graduate studies in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Dr. Faber received a B.S. in Ceramic Engineering from Alfred University, a M.S. in Ceramic Science from The Pennsylvania State University and a Ph.D. in Materials Science from the University of California at Berkeley. She has co-authored more than 100 papers on the fracture and toughness of ceramics, coatings and composites.

Dr. Lynnette D. Madsen joined the National Science Foundation (NSF) as the Program Director in Ceramics in 2000. At the NSF, Dr. Madsen has led new co-operative activities with European researchers in materials, and she has been involved in programs or initiatives on nanotechnology, energy sources, sensors, education and gender issues. Before joining the NSF, she was an Associate Professor of Physics in Sweden.

Dr. Madsen has written over 40 refereed journal publications, been awarded 2 patents, and delivered more than 40 invited scientific or professional talks covering research, ceramics, nanotechnology, careers and NSF. Her publications in the area of ceramics include glass, carbides, nitrides, superconductors, ferroelectrics, high dielectric materials and other oxides. She was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Science and Engineering from McMaster University, a Master of Engineering in Electronics from Carleton University, and both a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo.

Joel Clark's research and teaching are focused on developing methods to analyze the competitive position of materials and processes in specific applications. He founded the Materials Systems Laboratory in 1983 to work closely with industrial partners. More than 40 companies from the U.S., Asia, Europe and Latin America have sponsored this work. Highlights of the research have been the development of Total Cost Modeling, Multi-attribute Utility Assessment and a life cycle analysis methodology. Applications include automotive body and engine parts and structures; superconductors, semi-conductors, electronic sensors, circuit boards, substrates and packages; aircraft structures and engine materials; cutting tools and appliances.

Dr. Clark received a BS/MS in Engineering Science from Florida State University and an ScD in Metallurgy and Materials Science and an SM in Management from MIT.