Happy Filipino-American History Month: Dado Banatao Profile
Diosdado Banatao is, as aptly described by Wikipedia, a walking rags-to-riches story. Born in Cagayan to a farmer and a housekeeper, Banatao walked to school barefoot each day and worked his way through school until finally graduating cum laude from Mapua Institute of Technology with a BS in Electrical Engineering. Eventually, after working at both Philippine Airlines and Boeing, he attended Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA to obtain a Masters of Engineering in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
It is in his professional work after this that he created the first single chip, 16-bit microprocessor-based calculator, "invented the first 10-Mbit Ethernet CMOS with silicon coupler data-link control and transreceiver chip while working in SEEQ Technology...[and was] credited for the first system logic chip set for IBM's PC-XT and the PC-AT; the local bus concept and the first Windows Graphics accelerator chip for personal computers." (x)
Currently, Banatao lives in the Silicon Valley in California, working as a managing partner/founder at Tallwood Venture Capital. With his wife Maria, he created the Banatao Family Filipino American Education Fund which provides college scholarships to Filipino students interested in studying science and engineering.
