Chris Folk

Vita

Currently I am a design engineer at Microfabrica while finishing my PhD in the Mechanical Engineering Department at UCLA.  I have worked on a few projects in the field of MEMS, microfluidics, and lab-on-a-chip systems.

Education

UCLA PhD Mechanical Engineering grad 2006 Major: Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) Minors: Fluid Dynamics, Molecular Bioengineering Thesis: Micromixing with Discretized Pumps in an Integrated Microfluidic Circuit Advisor: Professor Chih-Ming Ho Research topics: •  Unmanned aerial vehicle controlled with integrated microsensor and actuator system •  Thermally responsive hydrogel microvalves made with in situ photopattering •  Microfluidic pump based on gas-emitting initiator •  Integrated micromixer using multiple micropumps	grad 2006
University of Cincinnati MS Engineering Mechanics, 3.6 GPA	1996-1998
General Electric Advanced Courses in graduate mechanical engineering	1995-1997
University of Notre Dame BS Aerospace Engineering, 3.5 GPA	1991-1995

Work Experience

Microfabrica Corporation

MEMS Design and Applications Engineer (full-time), Burbank , CA 2005-current

•  Responsible for mechanical, thermal, and electrical design and analysis of multilayer microfabricated products

•  Designed sensors and actuators for the biomedical, consumer, and semiconductor markets

Process and Materials Engineer (part-time), Burbank , CA 2000-2005

•  Fabricated all micromachined components integral to Microfabrica's Instant Mask process during company's first year

•  Trained new process engineers on dry etch, lithography and metrology equipment

•  Developed and tested new processes in lithography, dry etch, and deposition.

•  Experienced in wide array of micromachine fabrication techniques:

Lithography and characterization

Deposition: E-beam/thermal evaporation, Sputter, LPCVD and PECVD, Parylene, Electroplating

Etch: DRIE, Dry etch, Wet etch

Planarization: Chemical-mechanical lapping and polishing

University of California , Los Angeles

Teaching Assistant: Intro Micromachining and MEMS Lab, Los Angeles , CA 2000

•  Led two class sections in fabrication, testing, and characterization of:

accelerometers

pressure sensors

cantilevers

thermal actuators

magnetic actuators

simulated optical switch

simulated neural probes

other test structures

•  Instructed theory and practice of all aspects of surface and bulk micromachining.

General Electric Aircraft Engines

Technical Leadership Program-Design/Development 1995-1998

Advanced Mechanical Design, Cincinnati , OH

•  Led the mechanical design team of the high-pressure turbine rotor for an advanced military prototype jet engine, the GE23A.

•  Designed an improved cooling plate that resulted in a 20% cost reduction, a 30% weight reduction, and a 10% performance increase.

Heat Transfer and Fluid Systems, Cincinnati , OH

•  Reduced the cycle time of GE90 turbine heat transfer analyses by 15% with an innovative process to generate model boundary conditions.

 

Publications

• Folk C, Wong PK, Tan W, Li N, Ma Y, Ho CM. "Micro/Nano Fluidics for Biosignature Detection" XVII National and VI ISHMT/ASME Heat and Mass Transfer Conference, IGCAR, Kalpakkam, Jan. 5-7, 2004 Paper No HMT-2004-P1, pp. 1-5
• Folk C, Ulmanella U, Wong PK, Ho CM. "Control of Micro/Nano Fluidics" International Symposium on Micro-Mechanical Engineering (ISMME2003), Dec 1-3, 2003, Tsuchiura and Tsukuba, Japan. P 319-325 A25-121
• Folk C, Ho C-M, Chen X, Wudl F. "Thermally Responsive Hydrogel Microvalves" 226th American Chemical Society National Meeting, Sept 7-11, 2003, New York, NY
• Folk C, Ho C-M. "Micro-Actuators for Control of Delta Wing with Sharp Leading Edge" 39th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Jan 8-11, 2001, Reno, NV, AIAA-2001-0121
• Huang A, Folk C, Silva C, Christensen B, Chen Y, Ho C-M, Jiang F, Grosjean C, Tai Y-C, Lee G-B, Chen M, Newbern S. "Application of MEMS Devices to Delta Wing Aircraft: From Concept Development to Transonic Test Flight" 39th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Jan 8-11, 2001, Reno, NV, AIAA-2001-0124
• Liu Z, Chu W, Huang A, Folk C, Ho C-M. "Mining Sequence Patterns from Wind Tunnel Experimental Data for Flight Control", Proc. 5th Pacific-Asia Conf. on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (PAKDD), Hong Kong, China, April 2001.
• Huang, A.; Folk, C.; Ho, C.-M.; Liu, Z.; Chu, W.W.; Xu, Y.; Taic, Y.-C. "Gryphon M³ system: integration of MEMS for flight control". Proceedings of the SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering, vol.4559, (MEMS Components and Applications for Industry, Automobiles, Aerospace, and Communication, San Francisco, CA, USA, 22-23 Oct. 2001.) SPIE-Int. Soc. Opt. Eng, 2001. p.85-94

Contact Info

Mailing Address:
Chris Folk
Microfabrica Corp
7911 Haskell Ave
Van Nuys, CA 91406

Phone: 818-786-3322 x325
Email: cfolk@ (company name above) .com