Nobel Laureate in Physics To Keynote California Venture Forum; Event Moved Back to May 17 To Accommodate Renowned Scientist.

Business Editors

COSTA MESA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 1, 2001

Nobel Prize-winning physicist Melvin Schwartz, Ph.D., the I.I. Rabi Professor of Physics at Columbia University, will keynote the 14th Semi-Annual California Venture Forum (CVF) that will now be held on May 17, 2001 at the Phoenix Club in Anaheim, Calif. to accommodate his schedule.

Schwartz shared the Nobel Prize in 1988 with Columbia professors Leon Lederman and Jack Steinberger for their discovery of the muon neutrino. The I.I. Rabi Professorship was established in 1985 as a tribute to the eminent Nobel Prize winner who guided Columbia's department of physics for more than three decades.

Schwartz is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences and was a former director at the Brookhaven National Laboratories. Last month, the California Venture Forum launched its semi-annual application campaign inviting regional business owners and entrepreneurs to submit business plans. The deadline for submitting business plans has been extended to Feb. 23, 2001.

As a result of the Forum's partnership with California State University, Fullerton and its innovative Dan Black Program in Physics and Business, Schwartz will deliver the first annual Dan Black Distinguished Lecture on the Fullerton campus earlier in the day on May 17.

Alan Schechter, CVF chairman, commented: "The ability to attract one of the world's most pre-eminent theoretical physicists is a 'coup' for the Forum. We can all benefit from the experience of Dr. Schwartz's parlay into the business world as president of Digital Pathways. Dr. Schwartz's presence validates the California Venture Forum's ability to showcase entrepreneurial projects and provide a venue for investors to meet highly screened, fundable deals."

"The event has received a strong and positive response so far from the business community. In light of current economic conditions and the change in venture capital investments, we want to allow all candidates the opportunity to be considered for presentation.

"We are inviting all those businesses in high-tech, high-growth fundable technologies, either start-ups or mature firms, who are seeking financing or strategic alliances, to submit their business plans for consideration," Schechter stated.

Since 1989, the California Venture Forum has created a venue for start-up and emerging companies to showcase their products before an audience of potential investors. The Forum focuses primarily on biotechnology and medical device firms, high technology, telecommunications and computer-related companies and general industrial firms.

Schwartz received an A.B. degree in 1953 and a Ph.D. degree in physics in 1958 from Columbia. After working at Brookhaven National Laboratory as a research scientist from 1956 to 1958, he joined the faculty of Columbia in 1958 as assistant professor of physics and was appointed full professor in 1963. He resigned in 1966 to accept an appointment as professor of physics at Stanford.

In 1983, he left Stanford to devote full time to a company he had founded in 1970, Digital Pathways Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., which develops data communications security and network management. He left the company in 1991 to return to Columbia as professor of physics.

He is the author of Principles of Electrodynamics, a classic textbook first published in 1972 that has been an important influence on physics majors. He has also published more than 40 articles on topics in high-energy physics.

He was a National Science Foundation Fellow, 1953-54 and 1955-56, Quincy Ward Boese Fellow, 1954-55, Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, 1959-63, and a Guggenheim Fellow, 1966-67. He received the American Physical Society's Hughes Prize in 1964 and became a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1975.

To submit a business plan for consideration, send a cover letter along with three copies of your business plan and a check for $150 to The California Venture Forum, c/o VenturePoint, 2 Park Plaza, Ste 100, Irvine, CA 92714. Alternatively, applicants can send an electronic copy of their business plan via the Forum's Web site.

For more information, call 714/235-8655 or visit the California Venture Forum Web site at http://www.calventureforum.org/.

A California non-profit corporation, the California Venture Forum hosts investment conferences twice annually -- each May and November.

Conference sponsors include Southern California Edison; Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth; Roth Capital Partners; Wells Fargo Bank; Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly; Deloitte & Touche; Ernst & Young LLP; Kelly & Co.; NASA Commercialization Center; Arter & Hadden; Biomedical Market Newsletter; NEST Hi-Tech Accelerator; Birch, Stewart, Kolasch & Birch LLP; Riordan & McKinzie; BSKB Medical Ventures LLC; Lesley, Thomas, Schwarz, & Postma Inc.; The Dan Black Program in Physics and Business at California State University, Fullerton; Business Wire; Daly-Swartz Public Relations; California-Israel Chamber of Commerce; Small Business Development Center of Pomona; Association of Internet Professionals; Venture Point Tech Coast SBDC; The Tech Coast Venture Network; the American Electronics Association; and the Software Council of Southern California.