Photo of James Adair James AdairPenn State University

Dr. Adair received his B.S. in Chemistry and M.S. and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering, all from the University of Florida. From 1981-1982, he was a Fulbright Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Western Australia in the Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition and the Royal Perth Hospital where he studied the biophysical chemistry origin of pathological biomineralization including human kidney stone disease.…

Photo of Thad Adams Thad AdamsSavannah River National Laboratory

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.…

Photo of Jess Atkins Jess AtkinsExelon Nuclear
Photo of Steven Biegalski Steven BiegalskiGeorgia Institute of Technology

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.…

Photo of Heather Connaway Heather ConnawayX-energy

Heather currently works at X-energy as Lead, Microreactor Module, in the Government R&D Division. In this role, she coordinates the multidisciplinary engineering team performing reactor design for X-energy’s transportable microreactor technology. Prior to joining X-energy, she spent a decade at Argonne National Laboratory, where she was the manager of multimillion-dollar programs related to reactor design, software development, and fuel development and testing.

Photo of Dan DeBoer Dan DeBoerNextEra Energy, Inc.
Photo of Elizabeth DeStephens Elizabeth DeStephensBlack Knight Energy, LLC

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.…

Photo of Michael Fensin Michael FensinLos Alamos National Laboratory

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.…

Photo of Darren Gale Darren GaleX-energy

 Darren Gale, Vice President, Commercial Operations and ARDP Program Manager for X-energy ($2.5B Advanced Reactor Demonstration program at Energy Northwest), has been actively involved in the Nuclear Power industry for over 37 years, including Executive Management for the past 20 years. His significant profit/loss responsibilities span Fuels, Services, Engineering and Maintenance businesses.…

Photo of Bob Hadba Bob HadbaAlcon Laboratories

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.…

Photo of Diane Hickey Diane HickeyDiamond Chameleon Group
Photo of Kostadin Ivanov Kostadin IvanovNorth Carolina State University

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.…

Photo of Margaret Kayo Margaret KayoScientific Affairs and Regulatory Affairs

Dr. Kayo has over 16 years of medical product experience including implantable medical devices, combination products with drugs, and biologicals. She currently runs a consulting business focusing on Scientific Affairs and Regulatory Affairs in the Combination Device, Medical Device, and Pharmaceutical industries. She is actively working with businesses in spinal prosthetics, a variety of cardiovascular and peripheral combination devices, pain management and cellular and exosome therapies. …

Photo of Tyler Lenzi Tyler LenziMicron Technology

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.…

Photo of Beth Lewis Beth LewisWyman Gordon (Retired)

B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering, University of Florida, 1980

M.S. in Material Science & Engineering, WPI, 1994

Director of Technology Programs for Wyman Gordon (a PCC company)

Began her career in 1980 at Wyman Gordon and has held various technical roles. Works in Superalloy and Titanium Forging development with a focus on Nickle-based Superalloy powder metallurgy, production, forging and heat treatment for Aviation Markets.…

Photo of Azaree Lintereur Azaree LintereurPenn State University

Dr. Azaree Lintereur joined the Nuclear Engineering Department at Penn State University as an Assistant Professor in August 2017 and is developing a radiation detection based research program. Prior to joining Penn State University Dr. Lintereur was at the University of Utah, where she established a radiation detection laboratory. Prior to becoming a faculty member, Dr.…

Photo of James Marotta James MarottaAlcon Research, LLC.

Currently Senior Director of IOL Projects at Alcon Research, LLC., James Marotta has also held research and medical affairs positions at Novartis, Medtronic and Smith & Nephew.  Recipient of the Novartis 2018 VIVA Leading Science Award. More than 20 years of technical development knowledge and research experience with both medical devices and drug/device combination products.…

Photo of Steve McDanels Steve McDanelsNASA (Retired)

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.

Photo of Ananth Naman Ananth NamanCabot Microelectronics

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.…

Photo of Mano Nazar Mano NazarAeroEquity Industrial Partners

Mr. Nazar is an Operating Partner at AE Industrial, bringing over 35 years of extensive nuclear industry experience. Mr. Nazar currently serves as Chairman of the Board of BHI, an AE Industrial portfolio company.

Prior to joining AE Industrial in 2020, Mr. Nazar was president of the nuclear business unit at NextEra Energy, Inc., and currently serves as a consultant.…

Photo of Heather Ohm-Rodriguez Heather Ohm-RodriguezJohnson & Johnson
Photo of Pierre Oneid Pierre OneidHoltec International

Mr. Pierre Paul Oneid is the 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. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ottawa, Canada in 1981. Mr. Oneid is a Professional Engineer with over thirty-five years of experience in the Nuclear Industry, including twelve years in mechanical and structural design, eight years in Business Development, and fourteen years in Executive Positions.…

Photo of Ricardo Perez Ricardo PerezWestinghouse/Tennessee Valley Authority (Retired)

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.…

Photo of Wally Rhines Wally RhinesCornami, Inc.

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.…

Photo of Iris Schumacher Iris SchumacherKimberly-Clark Professional

Dr. Iris V. Schumacher is the R&D Manager for Global Product Development at Kimberly-Clark Professional.  She is responsible for the leadership of a global team that drives end-to-end innovation for the critical hygiene categories of skincare, wipers, and towel/bath tissue supporting the Kleenex®, Cottonelle®, Scott®, and WypAll® brands. Iris has an incredible passion for building exceptional teams by fostering a team culture that enables people to bring their best selves to their work and cultivates excitement to drive results. …

Photo of Deepika Singh Deepika SinghR&D Investment Holdings

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.…

Photo of James Talton James TaltonAlchem Corporation

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.…

Photo of Michael Zamora Michael ZamoraExxonMobil

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.…