Peter Vancorenland, Ph.D

From a young age, Peter has stuck to his motto: “You don’t own it until you’ve opened it up to see how it works.” This led to a lifetime of learning and discovery, and a lasting interest in STEM education.

After earning his Master’s and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, Peter began his career in semiconductor design. He has held senior engineering leadership roles at companies including Silicon Labs and Knowles Corporation, where he designed a wide range of mass-produced semiconductor products, built consumer and commercial solutions for the Internet of Things, and led the teams developing MEMS microphones used in smartphones, smart speakers and smartwatches.

Today, Peter is Chief Executive Officer and President of SigmaSense in Austin, Texas, where he leads the company’s work in software-defined sensing for battery intelligence and robotics. SigmaSense technology gives real-time insight into battery health and fire risk, and gives robots a sensitive electronic skin that improves their dexterity and lets collaborative robots sense nearby people, so they can work safely alongside humans.

Besides electronics, Peter also has an interest in mechanical engineering, ranging from car repair (“Hit it, and it may work again”) all the way down to the precision work of automatic watch repair (“Hit it, and it definitely won’t work again”).

Peter lives in Austin with his wife Ann and their two children, Xander and Annalies. The whole family shares his passion for science.