Dr. Meghali Chopra is CEO and co-founder of SandBox Semiconductor. She is responsible for SandBox’s vision and strategy and oversees the development of SandBox’s software products and technologies.

Dr. Chopra has a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering with Honors from Stanford University and a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin in Chemical Engineering. Her doctoral work focused on the use of Bayesian optimization for plasma-based etch and deposition semiconductor processes. Dr. Chopra was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research fellow and was elected to the Forbes 30 under 30 Science category in 2019. She is an industry expert with publications in leading peer-reviewed journals and patents in the areas of machine learning and AI-enabled optimization of semiconductor manufacturing processes and metrology.

Ken Joyce is a semiconductor industry assembly, packaging, and test veteran. He currently serves as an independent executive advisor to Brewer Science, Inc., a global provider of materials science solutions to the microelectronics industry. In 2022 he was appointed an inaugural member of the Industrial Advisory Committee created by the CHIPS Act to advise the federal government on microelectronics. He is also a Board Member of Arieca, Inc., an Advanced Materials Start-up. Previously, Ken spent 15 years with Amkor Technology, Inc., a leading OSAT provider of semiconductor packaging design, assembly, packaging, and test services where he held senior management positions including, CFO, COO, and President and CEO. During his tenure at Amkor, he led his team in forming J-Devices, Inc, Japan’s largest OSAT company. Throughout his career, he has served on the Board of Directors of a number of Public, Private and Not-For-Profit organizations, including the Global Semiconductor Alliance, “GSA.” He has been designated a Board Leadership Fellow by the National Association of Corporate Directors.

Major General (ret) Jeannie Leavitt currently serves as a Distinguished National Security Fellow at the Clements Center for National Security at the University of Texas. Her Air Force career spans more than 31 years and includes serving as Chief of Safety for the Air Force and Space Force, where she developed, directed, and evaluated all aviation, ground, weapons, space and system mishap prevention and nuclear surety. She also developed and directed all risk management courses for the Air Force and Space Force.

In addition to commanding the Air Force Safety Center, General Leavitt also commanded Air Force Recruiting Service, the 57th Wing and the 4th Fighter Wing. She held a variety of other positions, including Director of Operations and Communications for Air Education and Training Command, Principal Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense and Chief of Staff of the Air Force Fellow, detailed to the Central Intelligence Agency. She is an experienced command pilot with more than 3,000 hours, including 300+ hours in combat. She is a graduate and former F-15E instructor pilot at the United States Air Force Weapons School.

General Leavitt earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University. Additional graduate degrees she earned include a Master of Business Administration from Auburn University, a Master of Military Operational Art and Science from Air University, and a Master of National Security Strategy from the National War College, National Defense University. General Leavitt is also a member of the Engineering Advisory Board at the Cockrell School of Engineering, the University of Texas at Austin, and a principal at Pallas Advisors.

Dr. Babak Sabi is a Senior Vice President at Intel Corporation, From 2009 to 2023 Babak was Senior Vice President and the General Manager of Assembly & Test Technology Development (ATTD) at Intel Corporation. Babak was responsible for the company’s packaging, assembly, and test process technology development.

Babak joined Intel in 1984. Prior to leading ATTD, he oversaw Intel’s Corporate Quality Network from 2002 to 2009 where he led product reliability, customer satisfaction and quality business practices.

Babak received his Ph.D. in solid state electronics from Ohio State University in 1984. He has authored ten papers on reliability physics and has received five Intel Achievement Awards. He currently holds two patents.

John Schreck is the former senior vice president (retired) of DRAM Engineering at Micron Technology and in December, 2023 became the CEO of the Texas Institute for Electronics (TIE). In his role as SVP of DRAM Engineering, Mr. Schreck was responsible for Micron’s international team of design and product engineering with responsibilities including new technology development and high bandwidth memory (HBM) engineering. Mr. Schreck serves on the University of Texas at Austin’s Chandra Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering External Advisory Board and the Cockrell School of Engineering Advisory Board. He is also a member of the Chandra Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Academy of Distinguished Alumni. He holds a bachelor’s in electrical and electronics engineering from UT Austin and a master’s in electrical and electronics engineering from Rice University.  

Dr. S.V. Sreenivasan founded the Texas Institute for Electronics (TIE) in 2021 and currently serves as the CTO of TIE. He is also the Cockrell Family Regents Endowed Chair #7 in Engineering and Assoc. VP of Semiconductor Manufacturing at UT Austin. He is an expert in semiconductor equipment & process technologies. He has previously served as PI/co-PI of the $40M NSF funded NASCENT Center, PI of a $36M NIST ATP program, and PI or co-PI of several DARPA programs. He founded a UT-Austin spin out, Molecular Imprints, Inc. (MII), to commercialize nanoimprint lithography. MII’s semiconductor business was acquired by Canon Corporation, and MII’s display division was acquired by Magic Leap, Inc. Sreenivasan is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He earned a Bachelor of Technology from the National Institute of Technology at Trichy (India), and a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University.

Dr. Daniel Jaffe is the Vice President for Research and Jane and Roland Blumberg Professor in the Department of Astronomy.  As Vice President, he oversees the University’s research infrastructure and several of its interdisciplinary centers and institutes including the Applied Research Laboratory, the Oden Institute, the Texas Advanced Computing Center, and the Energy Institute.  His office also works with faculty to develop major interdisciplinary research proposals and manages the University’s research grand challenge program.

Prof. Jaffe received his BA and PhD from Harvard University and held positions at the University of Chicago and UC Berkeley before joining the UT faculty.  Jaffe’s research encompasses device development, instrumentation, and observations geared toward understanding how stars and planetary systems form and evolve.  His group constructs silicon diffractive optics using precision lithography and currently has devices on instruments for the James Webb Space Telescope, as well as several ground-based instruments.  His team’s IGRINS spectrograph operates at McDonald Observatory and the team is now designing an instrument for the Giant Magellan Telescope.  Prof. Jaffe’s astronomical research employs high resolution infrared spectroscopy to look at the properties of protostars and of the disks around them that are forming planets. Prof. Jaffe has been awarded Harvard’s Bart J. Bok prize, a Humboldt Fellowship, and a David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fellowship.  He took up his position as Vice President for Research in January, 2016 and served as UT’s Executive Vice President and Provost ad interim in 2020 and 2021.