Mahadevaiyer Krishnan received his Ph.D. degree in Physical Chemistry/ Electrochemistry from Georgetown University under the direction of Prof. Robert de Levie. He was a postdoctoral fellow under Prof. A. J. Bard in the University of Texas at Austin. He joined the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center at Yorktown Heights in 1984 as a research scientist. Krishnan's research interests include interfacial electrochemistry, colloid and surface science, and semiconductor process development. He has been leading research and development as well as manufacturing implementation of CMP slurries and processes in IBM since 1994.