Dr. Kaigham (Ken) J. Gabriel
Co-Founder, Chairman, and Chief Technology Officer

Dr. Gabriel is recognized worldwide as the architect of the MEMS industry. In 1985, Dr. Gabriel pioneered the MEMS field and led the development of IC-based MEMS while working at AT&T Bell Labs. Prior to co-founding Akustica, he served as Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute.

Dr. Gabriel spent five years with DARPA, where he started and managed their MEMS program as Director of the Electronics Technology Office and was responsible for roughly half of the U.S. Government’s electronics technology investments. He has also been a visiting professor for the Institute of Industrial Science at the University of Tokyo, heading joint research projects with IBM, Toyota and Ricoh, as well as a visiting scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory.

He has helped found two other successful technology companies and serves on advisory boards for three others.

Dr. Gabriel‘s honors include: World Economic Forum 2003 Technology Pioneer, MIT’s Carlton Tucker Prize for Excellence in Teaching, co-chair of the Defense Science Board 1999 Summer Study on 21st Century Technology Trends and Evolution, selection for personal technology briefings to the U.S. Secretary of Defense.

Dr. Gabriel holds an S.M. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT.