Luu's current projects involve cutting-edge technology such as high-speed aluminum wire bonding, capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers and high-voltage packaging. And aside from already having been named an IEEE Fellow, ASME Fellow and Fulbright Scholar, he was recently elected a TI Fellow, so his technical credentials are obviously top-notch.

But he was also once a science reporter for the Detroit Free Press.

While completing his Ph.D. at MIT as a Hertz Fellow, he received an American Association for the Advancement of Science and Industrial Research Institute Mass Media Science Fellowship to be a science writer for a summer. The program placed advanced science, engineering and math students in newsrooms to report on complex scientific issues for non-specialists.

He wrote about such varied topics as wind-tunnel testing at General Motors and the marine ecosystem of the Great Lakes, and he enjoyed it so much that he can imagine having pursued such work as a career.

Instead he spent two decades developing innovative technology at National Semiconductor before joining TI in 2011, and he now works in the Silicon Valley Analog Packaging Group.

One of his most lasting and visible contributions has involved National's micro SMD wafer-level package. He worked closely with Nokia to address the package's technical issues, ultimately leading to broader use industrywide of wafer-level package configurations in mobile technology.

His experience has taught him several things about innovation, including the importance of thoroughly understanding the end application of the technology you're working on. He also recommends familiarizing yourself with what others in your field are doing. And he thinks it's important to devote a portion of your time to specifically considering unconventional, out-of-the-box approaches to any project you're working on.

Outside of work, his primary activity these days is scouting: With two sons in the Boy Scouts and a daughter in Girl Scouts, Luu is an assistant scoutmaster and spends much of his free time with the troop, whether backpacking, snow camping, supporting merit badge work, mentoring STEM-related activities or performing community service.