University of Tennessee, Bachelor of Science, Materials Science & Engineering
University of Florida, Masters of Science, Materials Science & Engineering
University of Florida, Ph.D., Materials Science & Engineering
Thad M. Adams is the Savannah River National Laboratory Director of Strategic Development and Innovation. Dr. Adams is developing the advanced manufacturing competency at SRNL, with specific emphasis on process intensification, smart manufacturing, and enterprise modeling in support of programmatic initiatives.…
Jess Atkins, MBA, has been working in nuclear power plants for the last decade. While in nuclear power, Jess has worked as a corporate systems engineer, plant systems engineer, plant design engineer, auxiliary operator, responsible engineer (lead project engineer) and assistant project manager. From Senior Reactor Operator (SRO) training to designing and implementing new systems at the plant to replacing legacy systems like the turbine generator and the automatic voltage regulator, Jess has a wealth of knowledge of nuclear power plant life.…
Steven Biegalski is the Chair of the Nuclear and Radiological Engineering and Medical Physics Program at Georgia Institute of Technology. He has three degrees in nuclear engineering from the University of Maryland, University of Florida, and the University of Illinois, respectively. Early in his career, Dr. Biegalski was the Director of Radionuclide Operations at the Center for Monitoring Research.…
Elizabeth has over 20 years of experience in the energy industry and has served in a lead technical capacity for more than $10 billion of transactions and financings. She was previously Vice President – Reserves & Corporate Development and Vice President – Strategic Analytics at California Resources Corporation. Prior to CRC, she had progressive technical and commercial roles with Occidental Petroleum, Raymond James, Ryder Scott, ExxonMobil and General Electric.…
Erica A. Douglas, Ph.D., is an R&D manager for Sandia National Laboratories.
In this role, she leads the materials characterization and performance department within Sandia’s Material, Physical, and Chemical Sciences Center, which develops and applies materials characterization systems and analytical techniques to assess the structure, composition, and properties of all material types, at all material scales, and through built-up systems to improve performance.…
Dr. Michael Lorne Fensin is a staff scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Michael’s areas of research include Monte Carlo code and methods development, radiation signature and detector characterization for homeland security and nonproliferation, space and terrestrial reactor design, reactor burnup, and radiation effects and shielding design. Michael was an MCNP code developer and class instructor for over a decade.…
Jason Griggs conducted his BS, MS, and PhD studies in Materials Science & Engineering at the University of Florida. His dissertation research was co-mentored by Dr. Jack Mecholsky and Dr. Ken Anusavice.
He joined the faculty at Baylor College of Dentistry (Texas A&M) in 1998 as an Assistant Professor.
During his appointment at Baylor, Dr. Griggs progressed to the rank of Professor and served as Graduate Program Director and Vice-Chair of the Department of Biomaterials Science.…
Ahmad Robert “Bob” Hadba, Ph.D., MBA is a Senior Director of R&D Projects at Alcon Laboratories, Inc. Fort Worth, Texas. In this role, Bob is leading a cross-functional multi-site team charged with developing and clinically validating the performance of a new Modular Intraocular Lens Platform designed to optimize the refractive outcomes of post-cataract surgery patients. Bob began his career at Alcon in 2012 as the Director of Materials Research.…
Dr. Kostadin Ivanov is currently Professor and Department Head of Nuclear Engineering at North Carolina State University. Dr. Ivanov received a B.S. in nuclear engineering from the Moscow Institute of Power Engineering, Russia. He received his Ph.D. in reactor physics from the Institute of Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy (INRNE), Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. He was senior research scientist at INRNE and an assistant professor at the Technical University of Sofia, Bulgaria.…
Margaret has over 20 years of medical product experience in combination medical devices, medical devices and pharmaceutical products. She currently runs a consulting business focusing on Scientific Affairs and Regulatory Affairs in the Combination Device, Medical Device, and Pharmaceutical industries.
Margaret holds an MBA from the University of California-Irvine, where she focused on strategy, and BSc, MSc, and PhD degrees from the University of Florida Materials Sciences and Engineering Department, with her dissertation research centered on drug delivery from and surface modification of implantable biomaterials.
Tyler Lenzi received a B.S. in Materials Science Engineering from Washington State University (Pullman, Washington USA) in 1995 and finished his M.S. in Materials Science & Engineering from the University of Florida (Gainesville, Florida, USA) in 1997.
Mr. Lenzi has over 23 years of semiconductor manufacturing experience. He currently manages the Yield Enhancement, Data Science, Process Control, Corporate TEM Lab, and Wafer Level Testing teams for technology development at Micron Technology Inc.…
Dr. Navin Manjooran serves as the Chairman of Solve, a global technology and research services company addressing critical energy, industry, medical and infrastructure challenges. For almost a decade, he was on the global leadership team of Siemens AG, where he was responsible for managing complex global teams. In this role, he provided leadership from the corporate side for the entire Siemens portfolio, including expanding international collaborations, developing the global strategy, driving revenue growth, and ensuring Siemens stays a trendsetter for advanced technology and innovation.…
Steve McDanels received his degree in Materials Science and Engineering, with a specialization in metallurgical engineering, from the University of Florida. His professional career began as a materials engineer performing failure analysis and crash investigations of navy and marine rotor-wing and fixed-wing aircraft. He also served as an adjunct professor of metallurgy at Pensacola Junior College.…
Ananth Naman has served as our Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Cabot Microelectronics since January 2015. Previously, Dr. Naman was our Vice President of Research and Development since January 2011. Prior to that, Dr. Naman was our Director of Product Development starting in April 2009 and Director of Pads Technology from January 2006 through March 2009.…
Rodriguez is currently Vice President of Global Supply Chain for the Electrophysiology at Johnson & Johnson, based in the United States. She brings extensive experience from various leadership roles within Johnson & Johnson. Heather holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Florida and an MBA from Florida International University.…
Mr. Pierre Paul Oneid is the Executive Vice President of Business Development at EnergySolutions, a premier leader in nuclear waste management, decommissioning, and project services. He was previously Senior Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer of Holtec International. Mr. Oneid earned an Executive Master of Business Administration from Queens University in Canada in 1998 and a B.A.…
Ric is an accomplished executive leader with a successful career in electricity markets, engineering businesses, and critical infrastructure management in both the private and public sectors. He was with Westinghouse for 32 years rising to the position of President and COO where his duties spanned every facet of the energy cycle from fuel, manufacturing, plant design, construction, maintenance, and decommissioning.…
Brett Rampal is a nuclear energy expert with two decades of experience spread across the commercial, policy, research, and investing environments surrounding and supporting U.S. nuclear energy generation and development. Brett is a nuclear engineer by trade and training with Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Florida. After completing his education, Brett supported the existing nuclear fleet with nuclear fuel, safety analysis, and project management associated roles at General Electric-Hitachi (GEH) and Westinghouse Electric Company (WEC).…
WALDEN C. RHINES is President and CEO Emeritus of Cornami, Inc., a fabless software/semiconductor company focused on intelligent computing for fully homomorphic encryption and machine learning. He was previously CEO of Mentor Graphics for 25 years and Chairman of the Board for 17 years. During his tenure at Mentor, revenue nearly quadrupled and the market value of the company increased 10X.…
Kevin joined Siemens in 2000 as a materials engineer in Orlando, Florida within the fossil power generation division. Prior to joining Siemens, he briefly worked as a materials engineer for the International Truck and Engine Company after graduating from the University of Florida with a Master’s of Science degree in Materials Engineering.
Since the start of his career at Siemens, he has spent the first quarter as an engineer providing support to the engineering community to solve issues through failure analyses and providing materials solutions to the new generation of industrial large gas turbines.…
Deepika Singh is the Founder and former CEO of Sinmat- a company specializing in novel planarization processes for the semiconductor chip industry. These processes are currently being used by leading global companies in some of the fastest-growing markets involving the manufacturing of smartwatches, smartphones advanced silicon carbide and gallium nitride electronics for electric vehicles, 5G communications infrastructure and advanced defense electronics.…
Rob Szollosy brings more than two decades of leadership experience in the nuclear energy sector, with deep expertise in fuel cycle management, risk assessment, operational reliability, and organizational performance. He currently serves as Nuclear Fuel Supply Manager for Southern Nuclear, where he oversees the global fuel supply portfolio for eight nuclear units, ensuring long term reliability, commercial competitiveness, and strategic alignment with the company’s operational priorities.…
James D. Talton, Ph.D., is the President and CEO of Alchem Laboratories Corporation. Prior to joining Alchem, Dr. Talton served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Nanotherapeutics, Inc. for seventeen years. He also is President of Nanopharmaceutics, Inc., President of Discovery Cure Institute, Inc., a Florida non-profit Corporation and serves on the Alumni Advisory Board for the University of Florida Department of Materials Science & Engineering.…
Dr. Widenhouse is currently Senior Director of Surgical R&D at Bausch & Lomb. Prior to Bausch & Lomb, Chris was Sr. Director R&D at AtriCure for 8 years, and at Johnson & Johnson for multiple operating companies (Cordis Endovascular, Cordis, Ethicon Endo-Surgery, and Ethicon) over 16 years. During that time, he contributed to developments in cardiovascular combination products, peripheral vascular devices, laparoscopic and thoracic surgical devices for surgical access, surgical stapling for general surgery, and devices and technologies for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias and post-operative pain.…
Bryan Wilson is a registered patent attorney and founder of Bryan Wilson IP Law, PLLC, where he counsels clients on all aspects of intellectual property.
Bryan’s business, legal, and engineering experience enables him to effectively communicate with executives, in-house counsel and inventors. In addition to representing clients in district court litigation, Bryan has served as lead attorney in post-grant trials before the Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB) at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and has drafted licensing agreements for universities, private entities and governments.…
Jamie Womack grew up in Gainesville and fell in love with chemistry in high school classrooms just miles from the University of Florida. That curiosity about how the physical world works has never left her. She began her career at SLB in the energy industry and trained as a deep-sea metallurgist with expertise in corrosion. This job gave Jamie the opportunity to travel the globe and see how equipment was made.…
Mike P. Zamora is Senior Vice President of ExxonMobil Chemical Company, located in Houston, Texas. In this position, he is responsible for the company’s future growth, integration with other parts of the corporation and oversees the Basic Chemicals and Catalyst & Licensing global business units.
Prior to his current position, Mike was Manufacturing Director, Americas, ExxonMobil Chemical Company, located in Houston.…