Integrity in business
Students study real cases where companies put profit ahead of people, so they are ready for the ethical choices they will face at work.
Inaugural Dean, College of Business and Technology
Seattle Pacific University
James Hsi‑Jen Yeh
Business executive, engineer, and academic leader. An inventor on seven U.S. patents, he began his industry career at Bell Labs and spent more than fifteen years leading sales, marketing, and business development for technology companies before moving into higher education. He now leads a multidisciplinary college that brings business and technology together.
- M.B.A. Finance and Marketing, Columbia University
- Ph.D., M.S. EECS, UC Berkeley
- B.S. Electrical Engineering, Caltech
Vision
Business and technology now shape nearly every career. Dr. Yeh’s aim is to graduate people who can do both well, and who lead with integrity when the choices get hard.
“We’re able to train future leaders who will help people flourish and have firms that create value in society.”
Dr. James Yeh, in SPU Stories, December 2025
Technical depth, business judgment
Engineers who understand markets and business leaders who understand technology, learning side by side.
Learning by building
Hands-on projects and employer partnerships, shaped by his own two decades in industry.
Faith and human flourishing
Business and technology that serve people and communities, taught in the tradition of Christian higher education during some of the most formative years of students’ lives.
Academic leadership
Across three institutions he has brought together faculty, disciplines, and outside partners to build new programs, lead accreditation, and secure external funding. Since September 2025 he has served as the first dean of Seattle Pacific’s newly unified College of Business and Technology, where his current work includes:
A shared mission for a new college
In March 2026 he brought together the faculty of the college’s two divisions, the Division of Business and Government and the Division of Technology, to write and approve a shared mission for the new college:
“Grounded in Christian faith and values, we cultivate resilient leaders who advance flourishing through service in business, technology, and civil society.”
New graduate programs
Leading development of new graduate programs at the intersection of business and technology, in fields where employers are actively hiring.
Accelerated 4+1 pathways
Led the creation and expansion of accelerated 4+1 BS+MS pathways connecting computer science, data science, business, and accounting to graduate data analytics.
Responsible AI
Chairs the University Artificial Intelligence and Ethics Working Group, shaping campus-wide AI policy, curriculum, and faculty development.
Applied and experiential learning
Oversees the Center for Applied Learning and the Center for Faithful Business, connecting students with real projects and external partners.
Partnerships and resources
Builds relationships with corporations, alumni, and donors, and sets the college’s budget and investment priorities.
Faculty and academic quality
Supports faculty scholarship and development, and oversees assessment and AACSB and ABET accreditation.
Beyond the college
- AACSB International Accreditation peer reviewer, beginning 2027
- National Science Foundation Proposal review panelist
Grants secured in earlier roles
- $650,000National Science Foundation S-STEM grant for first-generation STEM students. Principal Investigator, Azusa Pacific.
- $310,000Massachusetts Clean Energy Center grant for PLC, wind turbine, and refrigeration laboratories. Massachusetts Maritime.
- $200,000W. M. Keck Foundation grant for Internet of Things research. Principal Investigator, Azusa Pacific.
News
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Winning entrepreneurial plan provides a path forward after incarceration
At Seattle Pacific’s 20th annual Social Venture Plan Competition, Dr. Yeh presented the $10,000 grand prize to ReForged Connections, a student plan to train formerly incarcerated women for careers in the skilled trades.
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New Leadership, New College: Business and Technology Reimagined
Dr. Yeh on teaching students to lead with integrity and connecting faith and innovation in Seattle’s tech hub.
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Dr. James Yeh is the new dean of the College of Business and Technology
Seattle Pacific announces his appointment to lead the College of Business and Technology.
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Massachusetts Maritime Academy Partners with Bourne High School for Early College Program
As Associate Dean of Engineering, Dr. Yeh serves on the steering committee for a new early college partnership that gives high school students a head start on college.
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Equipping Difference Makers in Engineering and Computer Science
APU profiles Dr. Yeh as interim chair of Engineering and Computer Science, on building an industry-informed, faith-integrated engineering program.
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Fingerprint Sensor Integration in Cellular Handsets
Invited engineering seminar on fingerprint sensor integration in smartphones, drawing on a decade in the biometric handset industry.
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Mobile Phone with Fingerprint Sensor by Hitachi
Quoted as AuthenTec’s director of Wireless Marketing for Asia on Hitachi’s adoption of AuthenTec fingerprint sensors for its W51H handset.
About
James Hsi-Jen Yeh is the inaugural Dean of the College of Business and Technology at Seattle Pacific University, a newly unified college where he leads eight departments and 34 full-time faculty in business, government, economics, engineering, computing, data science, mathematics, physics, and design. He came to the role after more than twenty years in industry and a decade in higher education, and his career has moved between the lab, the market, and the classroom.
His industry career spanned telecommunications, semiconductors, and biometrics. In Taiwan he led a networking business unit and secured and deployed a region-wide broadband network. At AuthenTec, later acquired by Apple, he was Senior Director of Marketing and Taiwan Country Manager, growing a profitable semiconductor module business for global mobile manufacturers. At Synaptics he took fingerprint-authentication products from concept through production with Samsung, Dell, Lenovo, Intel, and Qualcomm. As an investment manager, he evaluated early-stage technology companies and advised financial institutions on telecommunications investments.
That business career rests on deep technical work. His first research, as a Caltech undergraduate, applied volume holography to artificial neural networks. At UC Berkeley he invented fluidic self-assembly, a technique in which precisely shaped semiconductor devices suspended in liquid settle into matching recesses on a silicon wafer; it became the basis of five U.S. patents. At AT&T Bell Laboratories he designed a dual-band low-noise amplifier for wireless receivers and developed dynamic quality-of-service and pricing for communication networks. He has kept building since, from embedded software for a defense radar program to student research on Internet of Things health monitoring and pico-hydroelectric power for remote Himalayan villages, work that earned an IEEE Best Paper Award.
His academic career began at Cal Poly Pomona, where he taught engineering and mentored student design teams. He then spent eight years as Chair of Engineering and Computer Science at Azusa Pacific University, where he led ABET accreditation, won National Science Foundation funding to support first-generation STEM students, and secured a W. M. Keck Foundation research grant. He went on to serve as the inaugural Associate Dean of the School of Engineering at Massachusetts Maritime Academy, where he served on the steering committee for a new early college partnership with a local high school. At Seattle Pacific he is building programs that pair technical depth with business judgment, developed alongside the employers who hire their graduates.
A little more personally
He is fluent in English, Mandarin Chinese, and Taiwanese, and conversational in Spanish and Japanese. In 1999 he starred as “Dr. Yeh” in a U.S. television commercial for Pert Plus shampoo, filmed in Las Vegas. Watch the commercial.
Career
A career that has repeatedly crossed boundaries: from research to industry, investment, and commercialization, then to teaching, department leadership, and now leading a multidisciplinary college.
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1989 – 1994
Research Assistant, Electronics Research Laboratory
University of California, Berkeley
Doctoral research in MEMS, semiconductor devices, and optoelectronics. Invented fluidic self-assembly for heterogeneous semiconductor integration.
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1994 – 1998
Member of Technical Staff
AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ
Research in RF systems, optical communications, and wireless networking. Invented a dual-band low-noise amplifier, along with systems for dynamic bandwidth allocation and quality of service.
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1998 – 2002
Director of Business Development and Associate Marketing Director
Tecom Company Ltd., Taipei
Led the Carrier Networking business unit and global carrier partnerships. Secured and deployed a $33M DSL network and brought ADSL, VoIP, and wireless products to market.
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2002 – 2004
Senior Investment Manager and Telecom Consultant
WK Consulting and independent practice, Santa Clara and Taipei
Evaluated early-stage technology companies for investment and advised financial institutions on telecommunications investments, broadband deployment, and cybersecurity.
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2005 – 2012
Senior Director of Marketing and Taiwan Country Manager
AuthenTec, Inc. (acquired by Apple)
Led marketing, international business, and strategic partnerships. Built a profitable semiconductor module business for global mobile manufacturers, working with Samsung, Microsoft, Sony Ericsson, LG, HTC, and Fujitsu.
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2013 – 2014
Director of Business Development and Project Management
Synaptics, Inc. (formerly Validity Sensors), San Jose
Led business development and commercialization of fingerprint authentication for smartphones and PCs, coordinating engineering, manufacturing, and marketing on programs with Samsung, HTC, Dell, Lenovo, Intel, and Qualcomm.
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2015 – 2016
Lecturer
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Taught engineering and engineering technology and mentored student design teams.
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2016 – 2024
Chair and Associate Professor, Engineering and Computer Science
Azusa Pacific University
Achieved ABET accreditation, established mechanical and electrical engineering concentrations, led the creation of accelerated 4+1 BS+MS pathways, and served as an NSF review panelist.
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2018 – 2020
Embedded Software Consultant
Microwave Products and Technology, Murrieta, CA
Wrote embedded software for a defense radar antenna program and contributed to synthetic aperture radar and drone vibration mitigation.
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2024 – 2025
Associate Dean, School of Engineering
Massachusetts Maritime Academy
First associate dean of the School of Engineering. Led three engineering departments, planned the engineering curriculum for a new $330 million training ship, initiated Environmental Engineering and Engineering Technology degrees, and restarted a renewable-energy field program in Costa Rica.
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2025 – present
Dean, College of Business and Technology
Seattle Pacific University
First dean of the newly unified college. Leads eight departments spanning business, government, economics, engineering, computing, data science, mathematics, physics, and design.
Research and expertise
Work that starts with a device or an idea and ends with something people use and pay for.
- Applied IoT and sustainable energy
- Sensor systems for health monitoring, and pico-hydroelectric power with IoT control for villages in the Nepal Himalayas. Best Paper, IEEE IGESSC 2019.
- Technology commercialization
- Taking semiconductor, biometric, and broadband technology from the lab to global customers, plus venture due diligence and telecom investment advisory.
- Artificial intelligence and cybersecurity
- Responsible AI in curriculum and policy, and cybersecurity education. His first research project, at Caltech in 1987, applied volume holography to neural networks.
- Engineering education
- Environmentally embedded IoT as a teaching platform for secondary and university students, and support for first-generation STEM students.
Publications and patents
Seven U.S. patents and 27 publications, cited more than 3,000 times according to Google Scholar.
U.S. patents
- 5,545,291Method for Fabricating Self-Assembling Microstructures
- 5,625,617Near-Field Optical Apparatus with a Laser Having Non-Uniform Emission Face
- 5,783,856Method for Fabricating Self-Assembling Microstructures
- 5,824,186Method and Apparatus for Fabricating Self-Assembling Microstructures
- 5,904,545Apparatus for Fabricating Self-Assembling Microstructures
- 5,955,814Single-Stage Dual-Band Low-Noise Amplifier for Use in a Wireless Communication System Receiver
- 6,690,929Dynamic Quality-of-Service and Pricing in Communication System
Publications
- 2024
Sensor-Integrated Chairs for Lower Body Strength and Endurance Assessment
- 2023
An IoT-Based Automatic and Continuous Urine Measurement System
- 2022
Real-Time Monitoring of Urine Output with Internet-of-Things Connected Foley Catheters
- 2022
- 2021
- 2020
Prioritized Load Control System for Pico-Hydroelectric Power in the Nepal Himalayas
- 2020
Environmentally Embedded Internet-of-Things for Secondary and Higher Education
- 2019
IoT Sensing and Control Network for Pico-Hydroelectric in the Nepal Himalayas
- 2019
Modular Pico-Hydro Power System for Remote Himalayan Villages
- 2019
Programmable Turbine Failsafe System for Pico-Hydroelectric Power in the Nepal Himalayas
- 2018
IoT Enabled Pico-Hydroelectric Power with Satellite Backhaul for Remote Himalayan Villages
- 2018
Modular Pico-Hydropower System for Remote Himalayan Villages
- 2017
Improving the Utilization Factor for Islanded Renewable Energy Systems
- 2017
Sustainability as a Characteristic of Renewable Energy Systems in Remote Himalayan Villages
- 2017
- 1999
- 1998
Always in Touch: GSM-WAVE
- 1996
Ultra High Density Near-Field Optical Storage
- 1995
- 1994
Fluidic Self-Assembly for the Integration of GaAs Light-Emitting Diodes on Si Substrates
- 1994
New Fabrication Technique for the Integration of Large Area Optoelectronic Display Panels
- 1994
InGaAs and GaAs p-i-n Photodetectors Integrated onto a Si Substrate by Fluidic Self-Assembly
- 1994
Gallium Arsenide on Silicon Integration by Fluidic Self-Assembly
- 1994
Integration of GaAs Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser on Si by Substrate Removal
- 1994
Fluidic Self-Assembly of Microstructures and Its Application to the Integration of GaAs on Si
- 1992
Electrical and Optical Characteristics of Vacuum-Sealed Polysilicon Microlamps
- 1987
Applying Volume Holography to Artificial Neural Networks
Personal projects
Things he builds for fun, and to show students what a few lines of code can do.
Particle simulations in Processing
Interactive 3D simulations of two kinds of atoms moving and colliding, built in Processing and hosted on OpenProcessing.
- Minecraft Atoms
- Cube-shaped atoms interacting inside a three-dimensional torus, a space that wraps around so anything leaving one side re-enters from the opposite side.
- Atoms in a Sphere
- Atoms bouncing elastically inside a programmable boundary. The container can be built in different shapes by specifying each boundary wall and its surface normal (the direction the wall faces), which sets how particles rebound. This version uses a sphere.
CircuitVerse Verilog Translator
Wrote the original circuit-to-Verilog translator for CircuitVerse, the free online digital logic simulator, building it out from a placeholder in the codebase. It converts a circuit drawn in the browser into Verilog, the hardware description language used to design real chips.
To try it, open the CircuitVerse simulator, build a circuit, and choose Tools, then Export Verilog.
Service
University
- Chair, University AI and Ethics Working Group, Seattle Pacific University
- Member, Academic Leadership Council, Seattle Pacific University
- AACSB and ABET accreditation leadership
- Member, Massachusetts State University Labor/Management Committee on Equity
Peer review
- AACSB accreditation peer reviewer, beginning 2027
- Proposal review panelist, National Science Foundation
Community
- Chair, Walnut Valley Unified School District Citizens Bond Oversight Committee
- Board member, K–12 Foothill Consortium Engineering Advisory Board
- Vice Chair, Evangelical Formosan Church Council Board
- Convener, East Valley Children's Choir
Honors
- Best Paper Award, IEEE Green Energy and Smart Systems Conference
- Promising Idea Award, Caltech FLoW Business Competition
- Eta Kappa Nu, engineering honor society
- Beta Gamma Sigma, business honor society
Contact
Students, faculty, alumni, and industry and community partners are welcome to reach out. Email is the best way to reach him about speaking, partnerships, or the college.
[email protected]Speaking topics
- Responsible AI in business and higher education
- From lab to market: commercializing technology
- Integrity, faith, and innovation in business
- Preparing engineers and business leaders for an AI-driven economy