The Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute (CITRIS) are honored to welcome Nickhil Jakatdar and Weijie Yun as advisory board members.
Jakatdar is CEO of GenePath Diagnostics, a company based in India and the United States that creates innovative, low-cost solutions for the diagnosis of genetic disorders, infectious diseases and cancer for the developing world.
He received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the College of Engineering, Pune (COEP) in India before attending the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering and computer sciences (EECS). His thesis on deep sub-micron photolithography control through in-line metrology, advised by CITRIS Director Costas Spanos, evolved into the breakthrough technology that catalyzed his first startup, Timbre Technologies, where he developed advanced real-time measurement of the critical dimension of semiconductors. Widely used by major semiconductor manufacturers, this technology is essential for manufacturing chip patterns at the nanoscale level.
Jakatdar previously served as president of the startup Praesagus and co-founder and CEO of Vuclip. He is a founding member of the COEP’s Bhau Institute of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Leadership and has been an investor, adviser and board member to more than 50 startups. He is also the recipient of the COEP Lifetime Achievement Award and the UC Berkeley EECS Distinguished Alumni Award.
Weijie Yun is founder and managing partner of Tyche Partners, a venture capital firm focused on investments in early-stage companies in hard tech sectors such as IT infrastructure, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing. As a serial entrepreneur, he invests in founders with the vision and technology to build groundbreaking companies, such as Desktop Metal, Formlabs, Lightforce Orthodontics, Ambiq Micro and Ayar Labs. Before founding Tyche Partners, he was the founder and CEO of Telegent Systems, AIP Networks and Sitek.
Yun received his master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering and computer sciences at UC Berkeley. He retains a strong connection to the campus as a member of the board of trustees at UC Berkeley Foundation; a founding board member of the management, entrepreneurship and technology (MET) program; a friend of the Haas School of Business; and a member of the advisory board for College of Engineering.
“CITRIS is pleased to welcome Nickhil and Weijie to our advisory board,” said CITRIS Director Costas Spanos. “They bring deep industry domain knowledge that aligns well with our mission to solve society’s most complex problems through research collaboration across public and private sectors.”