Industry expert added to statewide alliance to advance semiconductor research, operations
The Virginia Alliance for Semiconductor Technology (VAST) has appointed Prabesh Dulal as its associate director of operations. With a distinguished career spanning semiconductor and nanotechnology, Dulal brings a wealth of experience and expertise to his new role.
Dulal will play a pivotal role in advancing VAST’s mission to create a collaborative network of Virginia’s preeminent universities to provide easy access to state-of-the-art research facilities throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. Dulal will lead VAST’s Operations Committee, made up of members of its academic affiliates, and is responsible for coordinating efforts to build a unified access point to cleanrooms, semiconductor and nanotechnology metrology, and semiconductor packaging facilities across the commonwealth and for establishing statewide safety and training policies related to VAST's operations.
Prior to joining VAST, Dulal served as a senior program manager at Seagate Technology, where he led the end-to-end quality assurance and reliability validation of microelectronics-driven data storage systems. His accomplishments include spearheading a global project that established a quality and reliability test infrastructure in a new manufacturing facility that contributed to the successful launch of three new enterprise data storage products.
"We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Dulal to our team as the associate director of operations," said Masoud Agah, founding and executive director of VAST. "His extensive background in semiconductor technology, coupled with his leadership experience ranging from research and development to large-scale manufacturing, will undoubtedly contribute to the success and growth of VAST."
Dulal also will lead a team of VAST process engineers across the commonwealth to develop the standards for the creation and delivery of the Fast Track to Semiconductor Careers hands-on training modules for veterans and adult learners, a critical part of VAST’s semiconductor workforce development programs.
“Dr. Dulal's extensive expertise and leadership within VAST's operations committee significantly enrich our endeavors," said Arthur Lichtenberger, research professor at the University of Virginia and director of the Innovations in Fabrication cleanroom facility. "His valuable contributions promise to further our pursuit of semiconductor innovation and excellence in Virginia.”
With combined experience in the semiconductor industry and in academia, Dulal will provide valuable insights in the collaborative efforts between industry and academia.
“Understanding both academia and industry is important in supporting the VAST ecosystem of partners as they collaborate to build the next generation workforce,” said Nibir Dhar, director of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Microelectronics Center.
Dulal earned his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from the University of Minnesota and holds a Bachelor of Arts in physics from Coe College, Iowa.
The Virginia Alliance for Semiconductor Technology is a collaborative network of semiconductor, microelectronics, nanotechnology industries, and Virginia colleges and universities providing access to state-of-the-art research facilities and training programs to bolster workforce access in addition to advocating the growth of semiconductors. VAST’s six academic affiliates share more than 35,000 square feet of semiconductor fabrication facilities and 30,000 square feet of material metrology and packaging facilities that are used by more than 150 research faculty and 600 highly skilled university students throughout Virginia.
