Kevin Roche is an advisory engineer/scientist in IBM Almaden's Magnetoelectronics and Spintronics group. An expert in ultra-high-vacuum systems and thin-film deposition, data acquisition and laboratory automation, Roche is a key member of the team that designs and builds the automated deposition and experimental apparatus that has made the group so productive. The IBM Research Division has recognized his contributions with an Outstanding Contribution Award (1992) and an Outstanding Technical Achievement Award (1999).
Roche is also the Webmaster and designer for IBM Almaden's Science and Technology function website. He also designed the SpinAps logo and many of Almaden's spintronics presentation graphics. In 2003, Roche received an IBM Bravo Award for leadership, involvement and for serving as a role model for diversity and diversity events.
A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Roche earned his Bachelor's degree in Physics (with honors and distinction in general scholarship) at the University of California, Berkeley in 1983. He first joined IBM Research in 1982 as an American Physical Society intern, doing frequency modulated laser spectroscopy of ionic species in flames. After completing his degree, he returned to IBM Research, where his work included research in tribology, laser interactions with phase-change media, and high-temperature superconductivity before finding its current focus in magnetoelectronics in thin-film multilayers.
