In 1997, The New York Times hailed Cornell assistant professor of Electrical Engineering Yu-Hwa Lo’s work with the potential to “revolutionize the industry.” Dr. Lu’s patent for a compliant universal substrate for growing pure, single crystals was seen as a major turning point in manufacturing almost any semiconductor material. He was co-founder and CTO of Nova Crystals, Inc., founded in September 1998, develops and manufactures high-end fiber-optic data and telecommunications components based on their proprietary chip process and wafer technologies. Nova Crystals is a privately held corporation backed by strategic and venture capital. He is pictured here with Felix Ejeckam.