Agenda

Dr. James Di Sarro received the B.S. degree (summa cum laude) in electrical engineering and economics from Duke University, Durham, NC, in 2004, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, in 2006 and 2009, respectively. He is currently a Member of the Group Technical Staff at Texas Instruments in Dallas, TX, working on product-level ESD protection circuit design and verification. From 2009 to 2013, he worked on ESD devices and compact model development for advanced CMOS technologies as an Advisory Engineer/Scientist at IBM Corporation. While a student, he completed several summer internships at IBM Corporation and National Semiconductor in electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device development. He has 29 granted patents and has authored or co-authored 15 conference presentations and journal papers. Dr. Di Sarro received an IBM Ph.D. Fellowship and an EOS/ESD Symposium Best Student 
Paper Award. 

Mehrdad Nourani received a Ph.D. in computer engineering from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. He joined the University of Texas at Dallas in 1999, where he is currently a Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Associate Provost. Dr. Nourani's research interests include system-on-chip design & test, design for reliability, signal/image processing, machine learning for risk assessment and prediction for mission-critical devices and systems. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, Semiconductor Research Corporation, and industry. Dr. Nourani holds seven utility patents and has published more than 300 papers in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings.

Dr. James Di Sarro received the B.S. degree (summa cum laude) in electrical engineering and economics from Duke University, Durham, NC, in 2004, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, in 2006 and 2009, respectively. He is currently a Member of the Group Technical Staff at Texas Instruments in Dallas, TX, working on product-level ESD protection circuit design and verification. From 2009 to 2013, he worked on ESD devices and compact model development for advanced CMOS technologies as an Advisory Engineer/Scientist at IBM Corporation. While a student, he completed several summer internships at IBM Corporation and National Semiconductor in electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device development. He has 29 granted patents and has authored or co-authored 15 conference presentations and journal papers. Dr. Di Sarro received an IBM Ph.D. Fellowship and an EOS/ESD Symposium Best Student 
Paper Award. 

Alain Loiseau received a maîtrise in Electrical Engineering from the Université des Sciences et Techniques du Languedoc, France, in 1993 and a master's in electrical engineering from the University of Virginia in 1995. He has worked for IBM, STMicro, and GLOBALFOUNDRIES on CMOS technology development and characterization, CPU power reduction, flash array functional testing, high-voltage FET reliability, and ESD. He holds over 100 US patents and has (co)-authored 13 papers.

Wen-Chieh Chen received the B.S and M.S. degrees in electronics engineering from National Chiao-Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, in 2016 and 2018, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from the Electrical Engineering Department (ESAT), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven), Leuven, Belgium, in 2024. She joined the ESD team, imec, Leuven, Belgium, in 2019. Her current research interests include mixed-voltage I/O design and ESD characterization in advanced sub-5-nm technologies, 3D/2.5D ICs, and the DTCO/STCO scaling roadmap. 

Dr. James Di Sarro received the B.S. degree (summa cum laude) in electrical engineering and economics from Duke University, Durham, NC, in 2004, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, in 2006 and 2009, respectively. He is currently a Member of the Group Technical Staff at Texas Instruments in Dallas, TX, working on product-level ESD protection circuit design and verification. From 2009 to 2013, he worked on ESD devices and compact model development for advanced CMOS technologies as an Advisory Engineer/Scientist at IBM Corporation. While a student, he completed several summer internships at IBM Corporation and National Semiconductor in electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device development. He has 29 granted patents and has authored or co-authored 15 conference presentations and journal papers. Dr. Di Sarro received an IBM Ph.D. Fellowship and an EOS/ESD Symposium Best Student 
Paper Award. 

With a Ph.D. from Rice University and nearly 30 years of technical leadership at Texas Instruments, Robert C. Baumann is a pioneer in the field of radiation effects. Most notably, his research into low-energy cosmic-ray neutrons resulted in a 10x reduction in integrated circuit reliability failure rates across the industry. His career is defined by transformative contributions, from inventing the industry’s first web-based soft-error calculator to developing ultra-low alpha packaging flows. Robert drove several external radiation-effects standards and was directly responsible for drafting the JEDEC 89/89A radiation test standard. He also led a panel of experts that successfully negotiated with Congress and the Department of Commerce to change ITAR regulations, eliminating inadvertent and arbitrary export control restrictions on U.S. semiconductor companies.  In his last 6 years at TI, he was the chief technologist for the Aerospace and Defense Product group, where he expanded TI’s radiation-effects characterization capabilities and defined and enabled the development of new radiation-hardened products.  Robert retired in 2018 and started a consultancy (Radiosity Solutions) providing leading-edge solutions to the aerospace and semiconductor industries.  He was also a part-time faculty member/research scientist developing radiation-effects programs at SMU (’18-22) and then at UT Dallas (’22-26), where he helped build the Center for Harsh Environment Semiconductors and Systems (CHESS).  Robert is a TI Fellow (emeritus) and IEEE Fellow, has coauthored > 100 papers/presentations, coauthored TI’s popular “Radiation Handbook for Electronics”, two book chapters, and holds 17 patents.

Dr. James Di Sarro received the B.S. degree (summa cum laude) in electrical engineering and economics from Duke University, Durham, NC, in 2004, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, in 2006 and 2009, respectively. He is currently a Member of the Group Technical Staff at Texas Instruments in Dallas, TX, working on product-level ESD protection circuit design and verification. From 2009 to 2013, he worked on ESD devices and compact model development for advanced CMOS technologies as an Advisory Engineer/Scientist at IBM Corporation. While a student, he completed several summer internships at IBM Corporation and National Semiconductor in electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device development. He has 29 granted patents and has authored or co-authored 15 conference presentations and journal papers. Dr. Di Sarro received an IBM Ph.D. Fellowship and an EOS/ESD Symposium Best Student 
Paper Award. 

Brian Ginsburg received his B.S., M.Eng., and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating in 2007. He then joined Texas Instruments, Dallas, Texas, working in its wireless business.  He was an analog design manager and systems manager of TI’s radar business.  Now, he is a TI and IEEE Fellow who directs research in RF, Photonics, and Edge AI within TI’s Kilby Labs.  He has previously served as the Program and General chairs of the Symposium on VLSI Technology and Circuits and is the RF subcommittee chair of the International Solid-State Circuits Conference.

Lena Zeitlhoefler received her Master's degree in Electrical Engineering in 2017 from the Technical University of Munich (TUM). During her time as a Ph.D. student at TUM, she worked in collaboration with Infineon Technologies AG in the fields of ESD and, in particular, on the physics of CDM and CDM simulation. She is an active member in several standardization working groups. In recent years, she was a member of the TPC for the EOSESD Symposium and for IEW Europe and Asia, and mentored several publications. She joined the global ESD team at Infineon in Munich, Germany, full-time in 2021.

Friedrich zur Nieden received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from TU Dortmund University, Germany, in 2014. From 2007 to 2012, he was a research and teaching assistant at the On-Board Systems Laboratory at TU Dortmund University. In 2010, he received a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service, which allowed him to stay at the University of Missouri Science and Technology in Rolla, Missouri, USA, where he continued his work in system-level ESD simulation. In 2012, he joined the central ESD department at Infineon Technologies AG in Munich, Germany. At Infineon, he works on ESD topics, focusing on characterization, device testing, ESD at the system level, and production support.

Professor Balachandran is a globally recognized leader in Electronic Systems and Biomedical Engineering, currently serving as Research Professor in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering and Director of the Electronic Systems Research Group. A Life Fellow of the IEEE and Fellow of multiple esteemed institutions—including the IET, Institute of Physics, InstMC, and the Royal Society of Arts—he exemplifies the highest standards of professional and academic excellence. He is also a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Physicist. With a distinguished career spanning decades, Professor Balachandran has made pioneering contributions at the intersection of electronics, bioengineering, and applied physics. His ground-breaking work on graphene-based biosensors for ECG and EEG monitoring is redefining the frontiers of non-invasive diagnostics. Professor Balachandran has authored over 400 scholarly papers and filed 15 patents, reflecting both the depth and breadth of his research. His visionary work has earned him the IEEE John Melcher Best Paper Award for Innovation and Creativity (2005) and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Electrostatic Society of America (2017). He is a trusted advisor to industries worldwide, and his research has reached broad audiences through features on BBC World Service and international media outlets. Professor Balachandran’s career is a testament to the power of interdisciplinary innovation, global collaboration, and the pursuit of transformative technologies that address real-world challenges.

Dr. Maciej A. Noras is an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Before joining academia, he was an R&D engineer at Trek, Inc. for 7 years, designing high-voltage amplifiers and commercial electrostatic measurement equipment, including fieldmeters, electrostatic voltmeters, and resistivity meters.  His academic research projects include the development of novel electric field sensors and signal processing, applications of high electric fields, and energy harvesting.

Mark Zaretsky was educated at MIT, earning a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, and went on to a 41-year career at Eastman Kodak, specializing in electrophotographic print technology and electrostatics in roll-to-roll manufacturing. Currently, he provides electrostatic consulting through ZStat, LLC, established in 2024. Dr. Zaretsky has 43 US patents and was honored as a Distinguished Inventor at Kodak. He also received the IS&T Charles Ives Award for co-authoring a paper on monitoring the electrophotographic development process. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Electrostatics and previously served as newsletter editor for the Electrostatic Society of America (ESA) for 17 years.

Richard Puig is a product manager for Newson Gale Inc. He has a degree in Marketing from Texas Tech University and an MBA from the University of Missouri. Member of NFPA 77 Technical Committee – Recommended Practice on Static Electricity. He is NICET Level III certified in Special Hazard Suppression Systems, NICET Level II in Fire Alarm, and a member of NFPA 75. He is a member of the Water Jet Technology Association (WJTA) safety committee for Vacuum Equipment. Has 26 plus years of experience in Special Hazard Suppression areas.

Hirotaka Yamazaki received his M.S. in Engineering from Keio University in Japan in 2007. In 2007, he joined Fujitsu Laboratories, Ltd., where he was engaged in research and development of Power Integrity analysis. Since 2015, he has been with Socionext, Inc., where he is currently engaged in investigating and developing ESD verification technology.

Dr. James Di Sarro received the B.S. degree (summa cum laude) in electrical engineering and economics from Duke University, Durham, NC, in 2004, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, in 2006 and 2009, respectively. He is currently a Member of the Group Technical Staff at Texas Instruments in Dallas, TX, working on product-level ESD protection circuit design and verification. From 2009 to 2013, he worked on ESD devices and compact model development for advanced CMOS technologies as an Advisory Engineer/Scientist at IBM Corporation. While a student, he completed several summer internships at IBM Corporation and National Semiconductor in electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device development. He has 29 granted patents and has authored or co-authored 15 conference presentations and journal papers. Dr. Di Sarro received an IBM Ph.D. Fellowship and an EOS/ESD Symposium Best Student 
Paper Award.