BOLINGBROOK, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On Wednesday, May 29th, the White House honored eleven Americans, including Sivananthan Laboratories, Inc. Chairman Dr. Siva Sivananthan, as Immigrant Innovator “Champions of Change.” According to the White House, “[t]his Champions event highlight[ed] immigrant innovators and entrepreneurs – the best and brightest from around the world who are helping create American jobs, grow our economy, and make our nation more competitive.”
“Immigrants have long made America more prosperous and innovative, and the Champions we are celebrating today represent the very best in leadership, entrepreneurship, and public service,” said U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park. “We are proud to recognize these leaders who work every day to grow our economy, advance science and technology, and support their home communities.” Raja Krishnamoorthi, the President of Sivananthan Laboratories, added, “We are exceedingly proud of Dr. Sivananthan and his many accomplishments, including this very high honor accorded by the White House. It is a fitting testament to his hard work, dedication, passion, and perseverance as a scientist and entrepreneur.” Dr. Christoph Grein, Chief Scientific Officer of Sivananthan Laboratories, noted, “We are impressed with Siva’s perseverance and willingness to devote his full energies and abilities to making his entrepreneurial vision a success.”
Born in Chavakacheri, Sri Lanka, Dr. Sivananthan is a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor and Director of the Microphysics Laboratory (MPL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He is also the founder of the high-tech, Bell Labs-styled incubator, Sivananthan Laboratories, Inc., based in Bolingbrook, Illinois. Dr. Sivananthan’s career is unique in its balance between academic excellence in research, entrepreneurship in business and the ability to bring together a network of the best minds from universities and industrial and governmental laboratories to work to develop innovative solutions to real-world problems. As an academic he has always been driven towards fundamental research, but in areas in which his fundamental research would have important real-world applications. His research has focused on II-VI semiconductors, motivated on one hand by the desire to advance the science of infrared (IR) detection and on the other hand by a great desire to develop more efficient, less expensive solar cells to further the cause of renewable energy. The wide reaching applications of II-VI materials includes HgCdTe being used as the sensor on NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper to establish the presence on water on the moon, and CdTe being the basis of the second most abundant photovoltaic technology in the world marketplace. Sivananthan Laboratories is also developing biosensors based on II-VI quantum dots, and radiation detectors and cadmium zinc telluride substrates Recently, Dr. Sivananthan also helped found InSPIRE (the non-profit Institute for Solar Photovoltaic Innovation, Research, and Edu-training), whose mission is training Illinois’s workforce and exciting Illinois undergraduate and high school students to create a renewable energy and solar eco-system in Illinois.
This White House recognition comes on the heels of Dr. Sivananthan recently being named a Fellow of the Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). He was honored for his contributions to the development of II-VI photovoltaic materials, and received the award on May 1, 2013 at the SPIE Defense, Security and Sensing symposium in Baltimore, Maryland.
At the May 29th White House ceremony honoring the Champions, Dr. Sivananthan reflected on his life: “I owe my life to this country,” he said. “Really what makes an impact on every immigrant is the time people took to train me and really push me to the limit. Every step of the way, they were there.”
For further inquiries, please contact Cynthia Deters at 630-226-0080. Sivananthan Laboratories’ website is www.sivananthanlabs.us.
About Sivananthan Laboratories, Inc.:
Inspired by the famous Bell Labs, Sivananthan Laboratories is a high-tech incubator, building on the work that Dr. Sivananthan has performed in II-VI semiconductor technologies including the development of mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) night vision military infrared sensors and cameras, cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells, biosensors based on II-VI quantum dots, and radiation detectors and cadmium zinc telluride substrates. The primary mission of the Laboratories is to create a breeding ground for outstanding scientific research and development with the purpose of advancing the long-term security, prosperity, and health and welfare of society. The Laboratories also acts through its group of companies to commercialize certain promising technologies stemming from its R&D work.
Forward-Looking Statements:
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