Prof. David Zhong Xu is the founding director of the Institute of Surface Engineering at Taiyuan University of Technology, and of the Institute of Plasma Surface Engineering at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China. He invented the Double Glow Plasma Surface Metallurgy Technology, which was granted an USA patent (Patent No.: US4520268) in 1985. His work in plasma surface metallurgy was recognized as one of the "key technology" in China National 863 projects in 1994, and has been supported by research funds from the US “Energy Related Invention Program” and “Small Business Innovation Research Program”. His accomplishments in this area have been granted two China National Invention Awards. Through his 60-year academic and research career, he has trained over 100 PhD and MSc students. He was a distinguished professor at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2004-2010 and the University of Science and Technology Beijing, 1995 -2006. Dr. Frank Fulin Xiong is a seasonal engineer in Silicon Valley, USA. He completed his PhD research program at California Institute of Technology, focusing on ion beam modification of solid materials. He then became a senior research fellow at the Applied Science Lab., Harvard University, and the Materials Research Center, Northwestern University, continuing his research and development of the surface physical study of materials thin film processing. Later, at the 3M Company Center Research Laboratory, Frank developed hard coatings, such as Plasma Enhanced CVD diamond thin films. At that time, he met Prof. Xu for technical information exchange. Since 1998, in the Silicon Valley, Dr. Xiong has been a senior engineering manager at IBM, SanDisk, Miradia and Invensensein working in semiconductor material processing, device fabrication and electronic system and product integration. He is a co-founder and CTO at Heaptech Engineering, Inc. leading a team on the technological development of renewable energy and clean-tech products.
