inventor
Joyce Chen: The Intricate Details of Substrate Design
Details are crucial for Joyce Chen. They have to be. Chen, a senior manager of package design engineering at Western Digital, leads a team of engineers responsible for the intricacies of semiconductor packaging design. Attention to detail is just one of her traits ideally suited for the job. Packaging design involves a series of steps […]
August 13, 2024 • 6 min read People
Neil Robertson: Finding the Right Mix for Innovation
Neil Robertson is always on the lookout for the next big thing. As vice president of physical science research at Western Digital, Robertson is responsible for uncovering breakthrough technologies and bringing innovative ideas to fruition. Robertson manages teams of chemical, electrical, materials science, physics, and mechanical engineers who together investigate potential future data storage technologies. […]
June 25, 2024 • 6 min read People
Inventor Shay Benisty: An Eye for Innovation
It was only a decade ago when inventor Shay Benisty was first challenged to pursue a patent. Two, in fact. His manager added a new task to his annual performance goals: submit two patents each year. Benisty, now a distinguished engineer leading Western Digital’s ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) system architecture team, was intimidated at the […]
January 9, 2024 • 7 min read People
Inventor Rick Galbraith: Piloting HDD Innovation
Rick Galbraith, distinguished engineer at Western Digital, jokes that he still works at his first job. Based out of the company’s Rochester, Minn. site, he is part of an enclave of distinguished engineers, many of whom hold dozens of patents. He walks the same hallways as he did straight out of college as a young […]
July 18, 2023 • 6 min read People
Inventor Grishma Shah: The Art of Scaling NAND
Grishma Shah thrives on creativity. Initially aspiring to be an artist or architect, Shah instead took a different route. “I realized I don’t have to be in the arts or architecture fields to be creative,” said Shah. “You can apply creativity to anything you do.” Today, Shah is a distinguished engineer at Western Digital. She […]
May 16, 2023 • 5 min read People
How Distinguished Engineer John Contreras Discovered an Unlikely Career Path
John Contreras, a distinguished engineer in Western Digital’s hard disk drive (HDD) CTO group, always knew he liked to build things, from electronic amplifiers and logic circuits to skateboard ramps. But he wouldn’t be the distinguished engineer he is today if not for influential high school math teachers and a fluke skateboarding accident resulting in […]
December 27, 2022 • 7 min read People
David Hall: Constraints are Opportunities for Innovation
David Hall is a tech innovator and inventor. While his official title is that of a distinguished engineer, his colleagues call him a visionary, an influencer, a tech evangelist, and an instigator. But his journey to tech visionary is far from typical. From Iowa to innovation Hall was born in a small town in Iowa […]
October 12, 2022 • 7 min read People
The Invention of the SD Card: When Tiny Storage Met Tech Giants
In 2014, at the National Medals of Science and National Medals of Technology and Innovation award ceremony, former President Barack Obama took a SanDisk SD card from his pocket and held it for the audience to see. The 512GB card was a gift from SanDisk’s former CEO, Eli Harari, who was awarded a medal that day. […]
September 29, 2022 • 8 min read Technology
How Hooi Bin Lim Chases What’s Next
As director of packaging engineering within Western Digital’s global operations, Hooi Bin Lim operates on a scale of microns or, as she describes, technologies as thin as sheets of paper. An innovator driven to uncover what’s next, Lim is responsible for development and qualification of System-in-a-Package (SiP). A SiP is a component inside a storage device containing […]
September 21, 2022 • 5 min read People
Dr. Kiran Gunnam: a Career in Novel Ideas
Dr. Kiran Gunnam is a prolific inventor with nearly 100 patents ranging from space docking technology to robotics and next-gen memories.
April 25, 2022 • 7 min read People