Our management team
Nanohmics’ management has extensive knowledge in the identification of business opportunities that are attractive for continued investment following successful technical development. In particular, they have a proven track record of developing SBIR-initiated products as well as securing and directing venture capital backing for product commercialization. Nanohmics has low volume manufacturing capabilities and has manufactured a number of devices for commercial sale in low volume (10-100 devices) production runs.
Nanohmics’ personnel understand the process necessary to select, and strategically position opportunities developed through contract research and the SBIR programs. Nanohmics’ intension is to keep its core focus on technology incubation while pursuing other vehicles for commercialization of mature or ready-for-market technology. Commercialization mechanisms include selling or licensing the technology, setting up subsidiary corporations in order to attract follow-on and/or matching capital from established venture capital firms, angel investors, and investments from larger corporations interested in the technology. Nanohmics intends to partner with a large volume manufacturer to manufacture and sell this device into the military and commercial markets.
Nanohmics business leadership has numerous industrial experiences in technology development, transfer and commercialization. Dr. Keith Jamison, the president of Nanohmics, has twice taken technology developed in the SBIR program to the commercialization level. As chief scientist at SI Diamond Technology (Houston, TX), Dr. Jamison propelled DoD sponsored SBIR research in diamond material technology into field emission flat panel displays that accompanied SI Diamond’s transition to a publicly traded company. Similarly, Dr. Jamison received Air Force SBIR funding to develop a gated diamond microtip field emission electron source at Systems & Processes Engineering Corporation (Austin, TX). At Systems & Processes, Dr. Jamison spearheaded the formation of Extreme Devices, Inc. that was spun out in 1998 to commercialize the field emission technology. As the CTO of Extreme Devices and a member of Extreme Devices board of directors, Dr. Jamison helped raisie $34 million in venture capital funding to develop this technology for use as a cold cathode electron source for CRTs. Dr. Steve Savoy and Mr. Mike Mayo, Nanohmics’ other founders, have both worked for venture capital funded companies developing innovative technology for commercial products in biomolecular diagnostics and semiconductor inspection metrology. Dr. Savoy also worked for VennWorks, LLC out of New York performing due diligence for investment opportunities in VennWorks’ $100 MM private placement fund. Nanohmics presently has four board members including the founders and Dr. Byron Zollars, Nanohmics’ Chief Scientist. Nanohmics’ direction and business development are regularly reviewed through open discussion with its business advisory board composed of local Austin professionals in systems engineering, semiconductor fabrication, venture capital investment and industrial real estate development.
Dr. Keith Jamison is a co-founder and President of Nanohmics. Dr. Jamison received his Ph.D and MS in Physics from Rice University. He leads a number of programs developing sputter deposited materials for uses as AR coatings and novel dielectric materials. He has a background in wide bandgap semiconductor growth and field emission. Before joining Nanohmics, Dr. Jamison was the CTO of Extreme Devices, a VC backed startup that raised over $34 million to develop cold cathodes for cathode ray tubes. Dr. Jamison developed the core technology that was used in this project. Prior to Extreme Devices, Dr. Jamison was Chief Scientist at SI Diamond Technology (SIDT). During his tenure, SIDT went from a 10 person company doing mostly SBIR work to a a publicly traded company developing a field emission flat panel display. At all positions Dr. Jamison was involved in plotting strategic direction and insuring that the technical goals set out by the company were met.
Dr. Steve Savoy is a cofounder and VP of Research and Development. Dr. Savoy received his Ph.D from the University of Texas. Dr. Savoy has been instrumental in obtaining research contracts in the area of nanomaterials and nanoassembly systems. His responsibilities include managing and performing research and development for Nanohmics’ nanomaterials division and insuring execution of all contract research and development programs in these areas. Dr Savoy previously worked at Labnetics, a VC backed startup company and Systems and Processes Engineering Corporation where he was a Senior member of the Technical Staff.
Mr. Mike Mayo is a cofounder and VP of Engineering. Mr. Mayo holds a MSEE in Electro-Optics from the Air Force Institute of Technology and a BSE in Electrical Engineering from the University of Central Florida. He is responsible for the design and construction of prototype deliverables for industrial and government customers as well as Principal Investigator for numerous optical development programs. Mr. Mayo was previously Senior Optical Engineer at nLine Corporation, a VC backed startup company developing semiconductor metrology tools, and SPEC Inc. where he was Director of Biotechnology Engineering. Mr. Mayo successfully transitioned military laser eye protection, chemical and biological warfare agent detectors, and laser based weapons and sensors while a research engineering officer in the Air Force.
Dr. Byron Zollars is the Chief Scientist of Nanohmics, Inc., and holds Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Physics from Rice University, and a B.S. in Physics from Texas A&M University. Dr. Zollars is presently working on the relationship between the topology of material surfaces and the characteristics of vector optical scattering from those surfaces. Theoretical work is being validated with experimental scattering measurements made with a custom low-noise scatterometer/polarimeter. Before joining Nanohmics, Dr. Zollars was the Chief Technical Officer for XDI Innovations, Inc., a senior scientist for Extreme Devices, Inc., and Vice-President of Systems Technology for Systems and Processes Engineering Corp., all of Austin, Texas. Prior to these positions, Dr. Zollars was a staff scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory, where he was a principal in the first experiments using laser beacons for adaptive optics correction of laser beams propagating through atmospheric turbulence.