Navigating a Career in Semiconductors

James (J.) Demarest received his B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Lehigh University in 1996 and his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Virginia in 2002. Upon graduation he started working for IBM eventually moving to the IBM facility in Albany, NY in 2007 to be the lead failure analysis engineer and TEM microscopist. J. served as an editor of the Electronic Device Failure Analysis Magazine from 2012-2017. In 2013 J. was the Technical Program Chair for the International Symposium for Testing and Failure Analysis (ISTFA) conference, which is the Electronic Device Failure Analysis Society’s (EDFAS) major annual event. As General Chair of ISTFA in 2015 J. used his industry contacts to recruit a National Geographic Explorer Keynote speaker. He started serving on the EDFAS Executive Board in 2016, becoming President of the society from 2020-2022. J. was elected ASM Fellow in 2021. In addition, he has served on the IMAT Technical Advisory Board since its inception. During his career James has received more than 40 patents and has authored or coauthored over 70 papers. Having been both a mentor and mentee throughout his professional career and volunteer activities he has a wealth of positive and negative anecdotal experiences to draw upon to help new professionals as they start their careers.