Eric Chason is a professor in the School of Engineering at Brown University. His research focuses primarily on the evolution of surfaces and thin films during materials processing. This work has led to the development of several in situ diagnostics that enable the monitoring of thin film stress surface morphology, microstructure, and interfacial reactions. This includes the development of a multi-beam optical technique (MOSS) for monitoring stress evolution in situ during processing. Recent projects include residual stress in polycrystalline films, whisker formation in Sn, anodes for Li-ion batteries, and ion-induced surface nano-patterning. Before moving to Brown in 1998, Chason was a senior member of the technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories. He received his Ph.D. in physics in 1985 from Harvard University.

Carol Handwerker is the Reinhardt Schuhmann Jr. Professor of Materials Engineering, and Environmental and Ecological Engineering at Purdue University. Her research program is focused on materials design and the prediction and control of microstructure evolution in a wide range of applications. With respect to Pb-free electronics, Handwerker has been working closely with the consumer electronics, automotive, defense, and aerospace industries in the transition to Pb-free materials and processes since 1994, first at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and now at Purdue. She has been involved with projects for the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI) since 1999, including as co-leader of the Pb-free Alloy Selection Team in the Pb-free Electronics Project; as a member of the Tin Whisker Fundamentals Project; as co-chair of the Metals Recycling Project; and currently as a co-chair of the Project on Value Recovery from End-of-Life Electronics. She also serves on the iNEMI Environmental Leadership Steering Committee, which focuses on meaningful improvements in the global economic, environmental, and societal sustainability of electronics. Additionally, Handwerker served as PI and director of the Purdue University-Tuskegee University National Science Foundation (NSF) Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) in Sustainable Electronics from 2012 to 2015.