Dr. Horskyis a Founder, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of SemEquip, Inc., a provider of proprietary capital equipment, materials, and process to the semiconductor manufacturing industry.  SemEquip is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ceradyne, a publicly traded corporation (NASDAQ: CRDN). Ceradyne,Inc. is a fully integrated developer and manufacturer of advanced technical ceramic products and components for defense, industrial, nuclear, electronic, automotive and medical markets.

Prior to co-founding SemEquip, he served as Director of Systems Engineering for Brooks Automation, a leading supplier of cluster tools and wafer handling automation for the semiconductor industry. He has held a variety of research positions, including Chief Scientist for Eaton Corporation Semiconductor Equipment Operations, a major manufacturer of ion implanters, where he headed ion source development and was responsible for commercializing the Extended Life Source, Eaton’s flagship ion source. Prior to joining Eaton, he served as Marketing Product Manager for Balzers, a manufacturer of vacuum process tools and analytical instrumentation. Dr. Horsky has received eighteen patents on ion source and related technologies, and has over fifty publications.

Dr. Horsky holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Brandeis University(1989), and a B.S. in Physics from the Universityof Texas(1983).  Prior to founding SemEquip, Tom held a variety of positions in research and management, including Chief Scientist for Eaton Corporation Semiconductor Equipment Operations(now Axcelis Technologies, NASDAQ: ACLS)and Director of Systems Engineering for Brooks Automation(NASDAQ: BRKS).  Tom holds 28 U.S.and foreign patents, and currently manages both intellectual property and research & development for SemEquip.

 The title of his talk will be "Technology Startup in the 21st Century--Rewards and Pitfalls".