Dr. Rodney Pelzel has over 20 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, with deep expertise in semiconductor materials engineering and the epitaxial growth of compound semiconductors. Dr. Pelzel joined IQE as a Production Engineer in 2000. For the first 12 years of his career with IQE, Dr. Pelzel held various engineering and operational management roles focusing on scaling leading edge epitaxial technology for volume manufacturing for wireless applications. In 2012, Dr. Pelzel was appointed as the head of R&D for the IQE Group and was tasked with creating unique materials solutions that enable IQE's customers and provide them with a competitive edge.
Throughout his career, Dr. Pelzel has been involved in numerous new product introductions, the most recent being IQE's highly successful launch of 6-in. VCSELs for consumer applications. Dr. Pelzel is a chemical engineer by training, holding a BS (High Distinction) from the University of Colorado (1995) and a PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara (2000). He’s a Chartered Engineer and a Chartered Scientist, and a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers. Dr. Pelzel's work has been widely published and he is the co-inventor of 30+ patents.