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Applied Sciences

Jim Holbery

Device Research Scientist (Alum)

Jim Holbery
Jim Holbery

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Jim Holbery joined the Applied Sciences Group in 2014.  Jim was responsible for developing the Printed, Textile and Flexible Electronic (PTFE) Lab and contributed capabilities in battery development, composite lightweight materials and displays.  His later focus was on creating new user experiences through soft electronics.

Before Microsoft, Jim was the founder of two start-up companies; GridMobility was a early IoT entry in the energy space, the winner of the 2011 Global CleanTech Open and featured in Time magazine; Ti Horizons was a Titanium mountain-bike company founded in 1992 that achieved a successful exit.  Before that, Jim served five years as a staff scientist within the Energy and Environment Directorate at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, directing energy research at a national level.  Before that Jim spent three years as a senior scientist at the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microdevices in Neuchatel, Switzerland, developing microelectronic devices, fabrication processes for integrated circuits, and novel thin films; was a visiting scientist at the CSIRO Applied Physics Group in Sydney, Australia; spent two years designing skis and snowboards for K2 Sports; and spent four years at Ford Aerospace (then a division of the Ford Motor Co.) where he was a group leader in Spacecraft Engineering.

Jim holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering and an M.S. and Ph.D. in material science, all from the University of Washington, where his focus was on polymer processing, colloidal science, composite materials, and mechanics of materials.

Jim is devoted to his two children, who are the light of his world.  Additionally, he has a keen interest in making things: composite structures, pottery, woodworking, sculpting, and casting.  He is keenly interested in the outdoors and hopes one day to convert the two stories he is writing into something more than just wasted space on his hard drive.

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