Management Team

Ralph Whitten – President

Ralph has led the development and commercialization of complex MEMS and Integrated circuit products for 27 years. He has led successful engineering and development efforts at numerous start-ups in the MEMS field including Silicon Light Machines, FormFactor Inc, and Nanogen, Inc.

He has served as Sr. Director of Biosensor Research and Development at Nanogen, Inc.; as Director of New Product Development at Formfactor, Inc.; as Director of Engineering at Silicon Light Machines; and as Director of Technology Development at Aptix Corporation.  Ralph holds a BS degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1981) and currently holds 23 patents in the field.
 

Jesse Adams, Ph.D. – Vice President and CTO

Jesse Adams received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering with a business minor from the University of Nevada, Reno. He graduated Summa Cum Laude and also received the outstanding mechanical engineering senior award. After winning a NSF graduate fellowship, Jesse went to Stanford University where he received a Masters of Science in mechatronics. His research interests led him to pursue a Ph.D. in nanotechnology working with the co-inventor of the Atomic Force Microscope, Calvin Quate. He developed a high-speed multi-probe AFM. This research was enhanced by a learning technology and educational reform component under the direction of Larry Leifer, then Director of the Stanford Learning Laboratory. While an assistant professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, Jesse did research on a self-sensing microcantilever platform being investigated for explosives detection, chemical vapor detection, and water quality sensing.

Jesse is an author on various technical papers, is a co-author on a nanotechnology textbook, has one issued patent and multiple patents pending, has given invited talks on scanning probe microscopy and microcantilever chemical sensing and won a regional and a national speaking award as well as a national design award, a university innovation award, and shared the 2004 Scientific American 50 award in the defense category. At Stanford University he served on a special committee for the provost, then Condoleezza Rice, to explore and recommend emergency graduate housing solutions. Jesse also served two terms as the assistant director of the respected sophomore college at Stanford.

Bob Osann – Vice President of Business Development

Bob is a veteran business executive with over 30 years of marketing, sales, engineering, and intellectual property experience in a variety of industry segments. He was CEO at MeshDynamics, a leading wireless mesh equipment manufacturer, from 2004-2005. He was the founder and initial CEO of Lightspeed Semiconductor, the first Structured ASIC company, and also served as a Vice President at P-CAD, SunRise Imaging, Aptix, Prolinx, and JigSaw Tek. In 1981, he founded Assisted Technology, the first PLD software company, which merged with P-CAD in 1985. Mr. Osann has a BSEE degree from Cornell University and numerous patents granted.