IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - July 2017 - 7

Distinguished Lecturer Vladimir Lumelsky presented "Human-Robot Interaction and Whole-Body Robot Sensing" on 30 January 2017 at
a joint meeting of the IEEE Central Texas MEMS and Sensors Chapter and the IEEE Central Texas Electronic Devices Society.

and industrial automation re present
especially dynamic new fron tiers for
MEMS sensors."
Markets for MEMS technology were
developed by exploring broad applica-
tions in the early 2000s, and there con-
tinues to be a profusion of products and
services that rely on MEMS and sensor
technology. MEMS and sensors are
enabling the innovations leading to the
fourth Industrial Revolution. Even the
latest Pokémon Go mobile game is en-
abled by MEMS and sensors designed
into smartphones. Today, the MEMS
industry is growing at a compound
annual growth rate of 13%, much like
the semiconductor industry's growth in
the 1980s and 1990s, according to I.H.S.
Markit, a leading market analysis firm
that tracks the market for MEMS and
sensor technology.

DEVELOPMENT OF IEEE MEMS
AND SENSORS CHAPTERS
While working as a senior manager at
3M's Energy and Electronics Innova-
tion Center in Austin, Lunceford was
invited to join a team of tech innovators
in Silicon Valley. "We came together in
2013 under the guidance of an executive
committee to form the MEMS and Sen-
sors Committee," Lunceford recalls.
"We held monthly meetings at Texas
Instruments and Qualcomm in Santa

Clara, California, where we hosted
invited speakers, networked with the
industry's visionaries, and transformed
a fragmented representation into a uni-
fied IEEE Chapter."
This became the first MEMS and
Sensors Chapter in 2014. Called the
IEEE San Francisco Bay Area MEMS
and Sensors Chapter, it continued to
grow, winning the Santa Clara Chapter
of the Year award in 2015. This experi-
ence paved the way for Lunceford to
chair the First Annual Internet of Things
(IoT) Symposium, sponsored by the
Microelectronics Packaging and Test
Engineering Council.

BRINGING IT TO TEXAS
In late 2015, Lunceford started recruit-
ing MEMS technology professionals in
Texas and identified four industry lead-
ers to help establish and lead the new
Chapter. The team of founding officers
for the new Chapter includes Vice-Chair
Brian Mattis, director of integration
engineering at Novati Technologies; Sec-
retary Colin Tompkins, director of
applications engineering at Silicon Labs;
Don Smith, president of spectral incen-
tives; and Lia Almeida, foundry product
engineer of Qualcomm. "We have a
burgeoning MEMS and Sensors indus-
try in the Austin region comprised of
industry leaders such as Silicon Labs,

(who recently acquired NXP Semicon-
ductor, Cirrus Logic, and Novati Tech-
nologies," Lunceford says.

CHAPTER MEETINGS
The inaugural Chapter meetings took
place on 31 May 2016 at Silicon Labs
and featured a presentation by Joe
Thompson of NXP-Freescale (now
Qualcomm) on automotive sensors,
which are driving the development of
autonomous cars. The second meeting
on 26 July 2016 featured a presenta-
tion by speakers Colin Tompkins and
John C. Gammel of Silicon Labs, who
focused on sensors for health monitor-
ing on wearable electronics, which are
driving the emergence and future of
wearable technology.
"We have big plans for 2017 to grow
regional industry support, Chapter mem-
bership, and to lead industry events rele-
vant to the economics and dynamism of
converging technologies," says Lunce-
ford. Detailed information about the
Chapter, founding officers, regional
industry, and events can be found at
www.ieee.org/ctx-sensors or https://
www.meetup.com/IEEE-Central-Texas-
MEMS-Sensors-Chapter-Meetup. Mem-
bers of the CE Society in the Austin area
are cordially invited to the meetings.
-Brent Lunceford

july 2017

IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine

http://www.ieee.org/ctx-sensors http://https:// http://www.meetup.com/IEEE-Central-Texas

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