Dr. Rick Schwerdtfeger is a seasoned scientist and entrepreneur with experience working from government-funded research labs to Fortune 500 corporations to the federal government and to several startups. Rick was formerly the CEO of Leading Edge Equipment Technologies, a venture-backed start-up commercializing a kerfless silicon wafer manufacturing.
Prior to that, he was a Program Director in the National Science Foundation (NSF) where he helped fund over 130 deep-tech start-ups in 3 years. Rick has a BS degree in Physics and Science Education from the University of Dubuque, an MS Degree in Physics from Pittsburg State University, and a PhD in Materials Science from the Colorado School of Mines.
