Michelle Kiang, Ph.D.
Michelle is a technologist turned serial entrepreneur and investor, with a proven track record of bringing leading-edge innovation to commercial successes. She is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Impact Science Ventures, an early-stage venture fund built to invest in breakthrough innovations that can solve the world’s hardest problems in climate change, sustainability, and human health.
Before her career in venture capital, Michelle was a 3-time founder of hard tech startups with successful exits. Most recently, she was CEO and Co-Founder of Chirp Microsystems, a leading provider of ultra-low-power, MEMS ultrasonic 3D-sensing solutions for consumer, industrial and automotive applications. She became VP and General Manager of the Ultrasound Sensor BU within TDK’s MEMS Business Group following Chirp’s acquisition by TDK. Her previous entrepreneurial experiences included commercializing sensor-enabled SaaS products for supply chain digital transformation, and silicon-MEMS based optical networking products as an outgrowth of her Ph.D. work. Besides building/exiting her own startups, Michelle was an executive in Strategic Planning and Corporate Development at Micron Technology and NeoPhotonics (now Lumentum.)
Michelle received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from UC Berkeley, and is a recipient of the prestigious David Sakrison Prize for her outstanding thesis work. She received the B.S. degree from National Taiwan University, also in Electrical Engineering. She has published more than 40 technical papers and articles, and is a co-inventor of 16 issued patents.Laura currently serves on the Board of Directors for public companies BE Semiconductor Industries NV (AMS:BESI) based in Duiven, Netherlands, and Aehr Test Systems (NASDAQ: AEHR) based in Fremont, CA USA. BESI is a leading provider of process equipment for the semiconductor industry with revenues of over €700M. Aehr Test Systems (NASDAQ: AEHR), is a leading maker of test and burn in systems for the semiconductor industry. Laura is also on the boards of several private companies.
Prior to Intel Capital, Laura was a Supply Chain Program Manager in Intel’s Technology and Manufacturing Group (TMG) and was the co-chairperson of the SEMATECH Metrology and Yield Management Advisory Group.
Laura received her PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, where her thesis research was centered on candidate batteries for electric cars.
