James Wessel

James Wessel is currently serving as the Manager of Failure Analysis at Polar Semiconductor since August 2023. Prior to this, James worked at Seagate Technology for over 25 years in various roles, including Principal Engineer for Advanced HAMR Head Development. James holds a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Physics from Montana State University-Bozeman, along with a Master of Science (MS) and Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Physics from Saint Mary's University of Minnesota. Throughout their career, James has made significant technical contributions resulting in nearly 40 patents and has extensive experience in areas such as recording head development, transducer process control, and data analysis.