The problems engineers are asked to work on today seem to be quite complex compared to those of 30 years ago and require not only a very broad base of technical knowledge, but also a high degree of personal initiative to solve.

 

Lawrence Kessler is president and chief technical officer of Sonoscan Inc., a high-tech firm he founded in 1974. Sonoscan specializes in acoustic microscopy, a technique of nondestructive inspection widely used for quality control of semiconductor devices. Dr. Kessler received his BSEE from Purdue (1964) and his PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1968). He was employed as a research scientist by Zenith Radio Corporation from 1968-73 where he developed new methods of ultrasonic visualization.

Dr. Kessler has authored more than 150 technical papers and holds 11 patents in the area of ultrasonic imaging system technology and applications. He is a fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and a distinguished alumnus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is past president of the IEEE Ultrasonics and Ferroelectrics Society where he also served as national lecturer.