Chip Companies To Announce Breakthroughs At Washington, D.C. Conference Next Week; MIT's Neil Gershenfeld Will Speak on Relationship Between the Bits of the Digital World and the Atoms of the Physical World.

Speaker:   Dr. Neil Gershenfeld

           Dr. Neil Gershenfeld is Director of the Center for Bits and
           Atoms at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He
           will be the luncheon speaker at the 51st annual IEEE
           International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM).
           Dr. Gershenfeld is the world's leading thinker on how the
           content of digital information relates to its potential
           physical forms, a perspective which spans the reach from
           quantum computing, to devices and processes that
           communicate and interact with each other, to global
           networks.

Topic:     "Bits and Atoms"

           Dr. Gershenfeld will describe two concepts that shed
           insight into the relationship between the digital world
           of bits and the physical world of atoms. "Building With
           Logic" is the fabrication of perfect macroscopic
           structures from imperfect microscopic components, and
           "Programming With Math" is the application of computer
           programs onto the dynamics of the physical world.  His
           work has resulted in not just mechanical devices, but
           fully functioning systems in such areas as networks of
           computer networks, "paintable" computing and personal
           fabrication systems in developed and developing countries.

Date & Time: Tues., Dec. 6, approx. 1 p.m.

Place:     International Ballroom West, Hilton Washington
           1919 Connecticut Ave. NW

Q&A:       Dr. Gershenfeld will be available to talk with the press
           immediately following his talk.

The Conference:

           The annual IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting
           (IEDM) is the world's premier forum for leading
           semiconductor companies, universities and government
           laboratories to first disclose research breakthroughs in
           computer chips, nanoelectronics and related technologies.

           The IEDM begins Monday, Dec. 5 and runs through Wednesday,
           Dec. 7.  To preview the technical highlights, there will be
           a luncheon press briefing the day prior to
           Dr. Gershenfeld's talk. That press briefing will begin at
           noon on Monday, Dec. 5 in the Hilton's Map Room.

           The IEDM web site is www.ieee.org/conferences/iedm.