Advisors

Dr. Authur J. Nozik is a Senior Research Fellow at NREL and Professor Adjoint in the Chemistry Department at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He received his B.Ch.E. from Cornell University in 1959 and his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Yale University in 1967. Before joining NREL in 1978, then known as the Solar Energy Research Institute, he conducted research at the Allied Chemical Corporation and American Cyanamid Corporation. He has published more than 200 papers, books, and book chapters and holds 11 U.S. patents. He has served on numerous scientific review and advisory panels, and received several awards in solar energy research. Dr. Nozik has been a senior editor of The Journal of Physical Chemistry since 1993.

Dr. Nozik is a fellow of both the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and a member of the American Chemical Society, the electrochemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Materials Research Society, and the Society of Photo Optical Instrument Engineers.Dr. Nozik was awarded the international Eni Award in 2008, touted as the Nobel Prize of energy research, for his work on quantization effects in semiconductor quantum dots, including multiple exciton generation, that could increase the efficiency of solar photoconversion.

Mr. Jim Robbins served as the Executive Director of the Environmental Business Cluster (EBC) in San Jose, CA. The EBC was the first environmental incubator in the U.S. when it was formed in 1994. The EBC specializes in technology commercialization of clean and renewable energy technology, and it has commercialization contracts with the California Energy Commission and the U.S. Dept. of Energy. The EBC has the largest private technology commercialization program for clean energy start-ups in the United States. The EBC is also helping in the development of an Electronic Transportation Development Center that will be a place (1) where established and early-stage companies will focus on the design, development, commercialization, and prototype manufacturing of alternate fuels and hybrid electric and gas commercial vehicles that also meet homeland security needs and (2) where these companies can collaborate on projects and share laboratory, light manufacturing, demonstration, and office space.

Mr. Robbins is the Founder and a Principal in Business Cluster Development. Since 1994, BCD has helped thirty organizations with the formation of sector-focused incubators. The latest BCD projects include a radio frequency identification (RFID) incubator in Dayton, OH; clean energy incubators in Toledo, OH, and Sacramento, CA, and defense and security incubators in North Carolina and Colorado. Mr. Robbins is also currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA), the largest professional incubation association. He is Co-Founder of the Software Business Cluster, the first software incubator in California. The Software Business Cluster was named Randall Whaley Incubator of the Year for 2000 by the National Business Incubation Association. Over $550 Million in venture investment has been made in SBC companies over the last 4 years, and four SBC companies have gone public.

Mr. Robbins was also a Principal in Panasonic Ventures, a $100 Million dollar investment fund. BCD developed the Panasonic Incubator in 1999. It incubates early stage companies in order to create technology partnerships. He has 30 years experience in the fields of new business formation, organizational design, technology development and management, business operations and law. In addition to starting his own business to assist communities in the development of sector-focused incubators, he has worked for Digital Equipment Corporation, the U.S. Supreme Court and was a trial attorney. Mr. Robbins is active in international incubation and has worked in New Zealand, Uganda, Nigeria and Brazil. He is a frequent speaker on new business formation, early stage venture funding and industry-focused incubation. His most recent presentations were on Technology Commercialization and Sector-Focused Incubation. He has also participated in case studies of BCD incubators by Harvard and Stanford University.

Mr. Erickson is a business consultant specializing in CEO coaching, interim CEO/COO positioning, and project management (CTO/COO). He has recently held positions of corporate President/CEO, CTO, Managing Director, and Technical Director of entrepreneurial management teams in start-up and turn-around companies. He is a seasoned executive with over twenty-five years of management experience focused in the areas of innovative software and hardware development, international business and corporate operations. He has extensive international experience in software and hardware development, marketing, and manufacturing. Mr. Erickson has been activiely engaged in Business Incubation for the City of San Jose for the past 10 years and runs two very successful incubators located in downtown San Jose.

Prior to his present activities, Digital Pathways, Inc. (subsequently acquired by Symantec) employed Mr. Erickson as President and CEO. Starting in February 1991, Chuck rebuilt an obsolete and virtually bankrupt business into an industry leader in data security software and secure client/server applications. At the end of 1995, the Company had a valuation in excess of $200,000,000. Chuck has a significant amount of international experience. Prior to joining Digital Pathways, he was President of Olivetti Advanced Technology Center, the U.S. based development arm of Ing. C. Olivetti Sp.A, the ($7,300m) Italian electronics company. During 16 years with Olivetti, Mr. Erickson held a variety of positions in the product development arena, from Manager through Director to President. Prior to Olivetti, Mr. Erickson held key engineering positions with Victor Comptometer, Warwick Electronics and 3M.

Mr. Erickson holds a BSEE from Illinois Institute of Technology, has done post-graduate studies at The University of Chicago, and has taught at IIT, Penn State University and San Jose State University. He is an active volunteer (and Eagle Scout) in the Boy Scouts of America, holding positions of Council President, Executive VP, and Area President. He is also currently serving as Chairman of the Board for Eastfield Ming Quong, a child and family services non-profit agency.