Dr. Siva Sivananthan is the founder and Chairman of the Board. He is a pioneer in the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth and the characterization of HgCdTe, including the first MBE growth at UIC (University of Illinois at Chicago) of HgCdTe on CdZnTe and on CdTe/Si, today the leading substrates for its growth. In 2013, the White House honored him as a "Champion of Change" for his scientific and entrepreneurial contributions to America, and in 2005, he was honored with a "Friend of the Night" award by the U.S. Army Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate for his leadership in this field and his many contributions to infrared sensor technology. His continuing contributions to the field of II-VI semiconductor research and development are evidenced by his over 250 refereed publications, his numerous invited talks and his perennial co-chairmanship of the "U.S. workshop on the physics and chemistry of II-VI materials". Dr. Sivananthan also holds the positions of Liberal Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and Director of the Microphysics Laboratory (MPL) at UIC. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Physics from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a B.S. degree in Physics from the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka.