Lincoln grad brings love of math, physics to global tech industry

If you’ve used a modern smartphone, television or computing device, you’re likely benefiting from the work of 1982 Lincoln High School graduate Joseph Olson.

Classmates might remember him for his accomplishments on the tennis court — he was a TEC doubles champion in his senior year — or his participation in band, but as a high school student who had been fascinated with jet engines and rockets from a young age, Olson knew that his true passion was math and physics.

That interest, the educators who encouraged him and lots of hard work would take Olson around the world, propelling his career in engineering and science that has influenced the computer chips in devices that so many of us use today.

As a student, he arrived in Cambridge City after living in a number of different places due to a parent changing jobs often. Olson says the school and community were very welcoming. “I was surprised at how quickly I felt like I fit in,” he said.

His new teachers took up the challenge of figuring out which classes would be a good fit, and steered him toward more challenging options when needed. He remembers talking about his interests with the principal, who quickly realized Olson had unusual math skills. He ended up in Paul Pentecost’s math class, which Olson says helped him thrive.

Churchill Scholarship

In his undergraduate time at Purdue, one of his professors suggested he apply for the Churchill Scholarship, aimed at encouraging collaboration between the U.S. and United Kingdom to further science and technology research. Chosen for the prestigious award, Olson had his tuition, airfare and other expenses covered for a full year of research at the University of Cambridge in England, an almost unimaginable leap forward for someone who had never been outside of the U.S.

Olson said the experience was amazing and opened up “a whole lot more possibilities than I had contemplated.” On top of the intense academic learning, he recalls beginning to understand more about himself as a person while navigating an unfamiliar place. “I was doing my laundry, and I needed to get change for the washer and dryer, coins that you’d know how to ask for in the U.S.,” Olson said. “But I didn’t know how to refer to the currency by name then, so something simple like changing paper money for pence was a challenge.”

Olson finished his postgraduate study at Cambridge in 1987 and completed a doctoral degree in engineering and applied physics at Cornell University in 1994. He tried out a few different positions, including time at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and realized he wanted to work in industry where he could apply his knowledge in the burgeoning world of manufacturing and miniaturizing electronics and semiconductors. He ended up at Varian Semiconductor, later acquired by Applied Materials, a Silicon Valley company with facilities around the world that specialize in products and engineering that advance the semiconductor industry. He’s been there since 1996, and the work he does now affects how computer chips ubiquitous in human society are made.

“I figured out the thing I like best is just solving problems, and this is an environment where we have problems, commercially very valuable problems,” Olson said. “You can have the support to do interesting work, come up with new ways to solve problems, so it’s very creative and fun.”

Using math skills

Fabricating computer chips is indeed a process full of complexity and challenges. Making things faster and smaller while using less power is a constant race, and Olson says his team is often working at the edge of what humans already know how to do. His job is to help them figure out how to do things in a new or better way, and it builds on the knowledge he was gaining as far back as his time at Lincoln. He may get to work with cool-sounding technology like ion beams, but in the end, it’s mostly a lot of math. “I use all of the math I was ever taught,” Olson says.

Olson realizes that applied physics can feel abstract for many but says it’s the thrill of experimentation, testing out new theories and hoping for breakthroughs, that makes the work exciting for him. For today’s students, he says that while it can be tempting to think they won’t use whatever algebra, geometry or other math they’re learning, it’s important to sharpen skills around learning new things. “There is a chance you’ll need it,” Olson said.

Confidence in the power of a good education is part of why Olson and his wife Judy, whom he met while students in Cambridge City, have become funders of a scholarship for graduating Lincoln High School seniors. They also know they benefited from the support of others during their upbringing and want to pay that forward. 

“Our experience from growing up living in Cambridge City was that there are a ton of opportunities, and that everybody might benefit from having a chance to try them,” Olson said. “It’s kind of an obligation and also a pleasure to give the next generation a chance to do something similar.” Joe and Judy enjoy reviewing the applications from students who are looking to try more education after high school as a way to affect their life path, and said they are always impressed by the applicants.

The Olsons live in Massachusetts now, but make it a priority to come back to Indiana often, and enjoy remaining connected to the Cambridge City community. They toured the high school during a reunion a few years ago and were struck by how nice the changes and improvements were. He says the tennis courts there now are “light-years ahead” of when he played. “The courts [back then] were concrete, and they had funny holes and dips in them … it was almost like a home court advantage,” Olson joked.

Learn fundamentals

Olson knows that the world of technology will keep evolving and changing around him. And while he thinks innovations like artificial intelligence will open up new opportunities, he encourages students not to substitute using AI for building real knowledge.

“You still need to learn the fundamentals; that’s a lesson that gets taught over and over again,” Olson said. “If you don’t have enough basics to evaluate what’s going on, you can’t hand off the ability to figure out whether decisions are correct.”

In reflecting on his own career, Olson expressed a sense of gratitude for all of the people who supported and helped him be who he is: his parents, his wife Judy, and the educators who took an interest in him, including those at Lincoln.

In the same way that most of us with modern technology in our lives benefit from the fruits of Olson’s early interest in math and his career in the world of semiconductors and computer chips, he says it’s important for everyone to consider the value of relying on each other. “Everybody should think about how nobody gets where they are on their own,” Olson said. “We try pretty hard to pay it forward.”