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Michael Nathan Silver (b. May 10, 1955) is a metals and chemicals industry business executive, philanthropist, commentator, and the founder and CEO of American Elements, a global advanced materials manufacturer with one of the largest advanced material catalogs. He was instrumental in establishing the post cold war rare earth supply chain from Inner Mongolia to the U.S. and Europe. His philanthropy includes sponsoring several hundred materials science and green technology conferences and educational television programs on high technology. He writes and speaks on issues affecting the global high technology industry, science education and Sino-American relations.

Early Life and Education
Michael Silver was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He attended the University of Southern California (USC) receiving a B.A. degree in Psychobiology in 1978 and then attended USC’s JD/MBA dual degree program graduating in 1982. He practiced corporate law for 10 years, specializing in mergers & acquisitions.

Business Career
In the mid 90s Silver founded American Elements as a chemical manufacturer and metals refiner of rare earths and other critical metals serving the U.S. mining industry. Upon the near simultaneous closing of the Unocal/Molycorp rare earth mine in Mountain Pass, California and the Rhodia rare earth refinery in Freeport, Texas, ending U.S. rare earths metal production, he flew to Baotou, Inner Mongolia and established one of the first post-cold war supply chains from Inner Mongolian mines directly to industrial end users in the U.S., Europe and Japan. Over the next 15 years he built American Elements facilities in Salt Lake City, Utah; Monterrey, Mexico; Baotou, China; and Manchester, UK and expanded production to include newly discovered elemental forms of advanced materials such as nanoparticles, green technology & alternative energy materials and advanced military alloys. By 2011, the company's materials catalog had grown to include over 10,000 items.

Philanthropic Activities
Mr. Silver established the not for profit American Elements' Academics & Periodicals Department in 2006 to support high school, college and graduate school education in high technology and materials science. Since its founding, the Department has sponsored over 400 academic and industry conferences in 25 countries in fields such as space exploration, nanotechnology , green technologies , solar energy and robotics. In 2011, it co-sponsored with the National Science Foundation a four-part PBS TV series on NOVA entitled "Making Stuff" examining the world of materials science. Mr. Silver funded and hosted a delegation in 2011 from the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California to the Inner Mongolian Medical Teaching College in Baotou, China which has led to student and teacher exchanges and the development of a joint AIDS program.

Writing and Speeches
Mr. Silver writes and speaks on several topics including:
 * American Global Competitiveness in High Technology
 * The Physical and Geo-Political Scarcity of Critical Metals
 * Environmentalism and Green Technology
 * Ways to Promote Better Sino-American Relations

Videos

 * "2011 Beijing Rare Earth Meeting TV News Coverage (Video)- Interview with American Elements CEO Michael Silver"
 * "American Elements CEO Commenting on WTO Rare Earth Action"
 * “OSA Executive Series, Steve Jacobs interviews Michael Silver, June 27, 2012”
 * “Bloomberg, Pimm Fox Show, Interview with Michael Silver, January 23, 2012”