Newsmaker: Ronald D. "Shawn" Blanton

Residence: Franklin Park

Age: 42

Family: Wife, Angela; sons Shane and Aaron, daughter Adrianne

Education: Blanton graduated with a bachelor's degree in engineering from Calvin College in 1987. He earned a master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Arizona in 1989, and a Ph.D. in computer science and engineering from the University of Michigan in 1995.

Noteworthy/Achievement: Blanton was appointed to lead the Center for Silicon System Implementation at Carnegie Mellon University, effective Feb. 1. The center researches and designs computer chips, and devises ways to manufacture them. Projects at the center, which has 18 faculty members and 60 doctoral candidates, include a speech recognition chip that would be faster than the speech recognition software used today. Blanton said he envisions the center pooling its resources to make major design innovations that can be used in everyday life.

Quote: "We want to create things your grandmother would know about. ... We just had a retreat, and we came up with some pretty wild ideas to go after."