Researcher Robert Powell is the current director of research at MUFON. He received his BS in Chemistry from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in 1976. Working in the semiconductor field, he helped develop flash memory chips that are now used in cameras, PCs and other electronic devices. He was the manager of the Analytical Development lab at Advanced Micro Devices where he participated in failure analysis of semiconductor chips. Powell is the joint holder of 4 patents and an amateur astronomer.