2025 CS MANTECH Plenary & Invited Speakers

Plenary Speaker – Huili Grace Xing, Cornell University

  Huili Grace Xing is currently the Director of SUPREME – a SRC JUMP2.0 research center, the William L. Quackenbush Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering at Cornell University, and having recently served as the Associate Dean for Research & Graduate Studies of the College of Engineering.

She is a recipient of the AFOSR Young Investigator Award, NSF CAREER Award, ISCS Young Scientist Award, and the Intel Outstanding Researcher Award.  She is a fellow of APS, IEEE & AAAS.

She received B.S. in physics from Peking University, M.S. in Material Science from Lehigh University and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from University of California, Santa Barbara, respectively.  She was a faculty with the University of Notre Dame from 2004 to 2014.  Her research focuses on development of III-V nitrides, 2-D crystals, oxide semiconductors, recently also multiferroics & magnetic materials: growth, electronic and optoelectronic devices, especially the interplay between material properties and device development for high performance devices, including RF/THz devices, tunnel field effect transistors, power electronics, DUV emitters and memories.  Together with her colleague Debdeep Jena, they were the first to demonstrate distributed polarization doping (DPD), especially the p-type DPD in nitride semiconductors. This doping scheme is fundamentally different from impurity doping and modulation doping, thus dubbed as the 3rd generation of doping science by Xing. Polarization doping is particularly powerful in polar ultrawide bandgap semiconductors since it might be the only known method to achieve both n-type and p-type in an UWBG semiconductor with doping properties akin to shallow impurity dopants.

Plenary Speaker – Steven DenBaars, University of California Santa Barbara

Steven DenBaars is a Distinguished Professor of Materials and Electrical and Computer Engineering, The Mitsubishi Chemical Professor in Solid State Lighting & Display, and Executive Director of the Solid State Lighting and Energy Electronics Center (SSLEEC) at the University of California, Santa Barbara. SSLEEC has helped pioneer the advent of high efficiency LED Lighting, LED Displays,  laser displays, and energy efficient power electronics. Professor DenBaars received his BS from the University of Arizona, MS and PhD from the University of Southern California.  Professor DenBaars was a member of the technical staff at Hewlett-Packard Optoelectronics development, where he developed high brightness red LEDs in San Jose and Penang, Malaysia. Professor DenBaars joined the University of California, Santa Barbara faculty in 1991 where he conducts research on wide-bandgap semiconductors (GaN based) and their application to Micro-LEDs, UV LEDs, VCSELs, Laser Diodes, 5G Electronics, RF and high-power electronic devices. Professor DenBaars has co-founded 4 companies in compound semiconductors (Nitres, Soraa, SLD Laser, Akoustis). He is the recipient of the ISCS Quantum Device Award (2021), Aron Kressel Award, IEEE Photonics Society(2010) and IEEE Fellow(2008).  He has published over 1200 peer reviewed publications(H-index of 151) and is the named inventor on 150 U.S. Patents. He is a Fellow of IEEE, Member of National Academy of Engineering, and Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.

Plenary Speaker – Michael Holmes, DARPA NGMM

Michael Holmes is the managing director of the Next Generation Microelectronics Manufacturing (NGMM) program. Prior to joining DARPA in September 2024, Holmes was at Sandia National Laboratories for more than 21 years. In his most recent role at Sandia, he was the senior manager of the protective technologies organization focused on specialized hardware systems security research.

Previously, Holmes was responsible for operation of the largest U.S. government microfabrication facilities for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Microsystems Engineering, Science, and Applications (MESA) Center. He held additional roles at MESA including senior manager for the Heterogeneous Integration & RF Microsystems group, line manager for the Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC) department, and mixed signal integrated circuit design engineer.

Holmes received master’s and bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering from New Mexico State University in 2002 and 2000, respectively. His interest areas include heterogeneous integration, microfabrication, integrated circuit design, secure microsystems research and development, and sensors.

Plenary Speaker – Bertrand Parvais, imec

Bertrand Parvais is a principal member of technical staff at imec and Professor at Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB). He received his electrical engineering and Ph.D. degrees from the Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, in 2000 and 2004, respectively. He joined imec as a device engineer, working on the characterization and modelling of transistors in advanced CMOS technologies for analog and RF applications. From 2009 to 2016, he was involved in the design of mixed-mode and millimeter-wave CMOS circuits. He then led the team responsible for transistor compact model and design-technology co-optimization (DTCO), including sustainability aspects. Since 2019, he has been focusing on RF technologies for Front-end-Modules, leading the development of RF compound semiconductors on Si at imec.

Invited Speaker – Paul Martin, Mojo Vision

Paul S. Martin is currently SVP for Display at Mojo Vision and inspired by the opportunity to work with the Mojo Vision team to reimagine how the people access, view, and share information beyond current mobile platforms.

Paul has a PhD in Physics from MIT, has been contributing to LED related research, product development and management for over 25 years and has contributed on more then 50 U.S. patents.

Paul is passionate about pushing the envelope of LED technology and has been a leader in developing LEDs that form the foundation for several LED market firsts including; first high volume 1W LED (Lumileds Luxeon 1, 2000), first functional LED Flash (Sony Ericsson K700, 2004), first LED backlit LCD TV (Sony Qualia 005, 2004), first LED Automotive High Beam/Low Beam (Audi R8, 2007), first “L-Prize” 60W LED Bulb (Philips, 2011), and first regulated Automative LED Signaling Bulb (2016) among others.

Invited Speaker – Maki Kushimoto, University of Nagoya

Maki Kushimoto is an Associate Professor in Department of Electronics at Nagoya University, Japan, since 2024. She received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electronic Engineering from Nagoya University in 2013 and 2016, respectively.

Her research interests are in crystal growth of nitride semiconductors, optical characterization, and development of devices. In recent years, she has been focusing on the development of deep UV light emitting devices.

 

 

Invited Speaker – Atsushi Yamada, Fujitsu Limited

Atsushi Yamada received the B.E., M.E., and Ph.D. degrees in electronics engineering from Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, in 2000, 2002, and 2005, respectively. He joined Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. In 2005, transferred to Fujitsu Limited in 2021, and has been engaged in crystal growth of Gallium Nitride by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). His current research interests include the development of next-generation RF power device technologies.

Invited Speaker – Susan Feindt, Natcast

Susan Feindt joined Natcast as its Senior Vice President of Ecosystem Development in April 2024. Natcast as a purpose-built, non-profit entity designated to operate the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) by the Department of Commerce. Established by the CHIPS and Science Act of the U.S. government, the NSTC is a public-private consortium dedicated to semiconductor R&D in the United States. The NSTC convenes industry, academia, and government from across the semiconductor ecosystem to address the most challenging barriers to continued technological progress in the domestic semiconductor industry, including the need for a skilled workforce.Prior to Natcast, Feindt was an executive and senior technical fellow at Analog Devices where she led technology strategy and innovations, specializing in advanced process and device development. Feindt’s career at ADI spanned thirty-six years where her leadership, mentorship, and technical innovations resulted in the commercialization of numerous technologies. She has served on multiple industry and academic advisory boards, including as vice-chair of the Department of Commerce CHIPS Industrial Advisory Committee (IAC).

Feindt earned her B.S. from M.I.T. At Natcast, Feindt will focus on defining membership strategy, prioritizing program offerings, and advocating for the semiconductor ecosystem’s interests.

Invited Speaker – Ramón Collazo, North Carolina State University

Ramón Collazo is a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and University Faculty Fellow at NC State, researching on the development of wide bandgap semiconductors for optoelectronics and power applications. He co-directs the Wide Bandgaps Laboratory at NC State. He received his B.S. in Physics from the University of Puerto Rico, and his Ph.D. in MSE from NC State in 2002 with Prof. Zlatko Sitar as his advisor. In addition, Profs. Robert Davis, Robert Nemanich and Raoul Schlesser served on his Ph.D. committee. After graduation, he joined HexaTech Inc. as a senior research scientist where he worked along with Prof. Sitar on the development of AlN-based technology. He joined the tenure-track at NC State as an Assistant Professor in 2010, as part of the effort to expand the wide bandgaps technology research in the department. His current research involves the growth and characterization of III-nitrides, especially the development of GaN and AlN-based power devices and the Al-rich AlGaN alloy system for UV optoelectronics. This includes the development of UV light emitting diodes, laser diodes and related optoelectronics. He was awarded the NSF CAREER award supporting his work on point defects in these wide bandgap semiconductors. He has published over 260 research articles in refereed journals, holding 12 patents, 5 exclusively licensed disclosures, and numerous presentations at national and international conferences. During his time as professor, he has served as advisor or co-advisor for nearly 20 Ph. D. students and has served as committee advisor for more than 40 students, where many of these students have gone on to become leaders in the semiconductor industry.

Invited Speaker – David Radulescu, Radulescu LLP

David C. Radulescu, Ph.D., is a Founder and Partner of Radulescu LLP, an elite patent litigation boutique firm with offices in New York City and Texas. Radulescu LLP focuses on high-stakes, complex patent litigation where a deep understanding of the interplay between technology and legal issues is critical to a company’s litigation success. The firm often works on matters in the context of multi-patent, multi-jurisdiction disputes with primary competitors. In his three decades of practice, Dr. Radulescu has litigated more patent cases than any other lawyer in the United States in the field of compound semiconductor devices including over 75 cases in the GaN LED industry involving over 150 patents. He has authored over 25 publications in the area of semiconductor devices and materials. His Ph.D. Dissertation (Cornell University) involved compound semiconductor crystal growth and characterization for device applications.

Invited Speaker – Bardia Pezeshki, Avicena Tech

Bardia Pezeshki has a PhD in EE from Stanford, and developed photonic devices at IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, and SDL.  He is the founder and CEO of two prior startups, Santur and Kaiam, the first of which developed the market leading tunable laser for long distance fiber optics in mid 2000’s and the second of which developed and manufactured leading 40Gb/s and 100Gb/s transceivers for datacenters.  His current start-up has developed a novel microLED data interconnect solution that enables optics with unprecedented performance for shorter distance communications.

Invited Speaker – Peter Debackere, Infinera

Peter Debackere

Invited Speaker – Marco Zuniga, Renesas

Marco Zuniga serves as Renesas’ head of power technology development. He joins the company as a distinguished technical leader with over 25 years of experience in product and process in high-performance power management solutions.

Most recently he was Chief Technology Officer at GaN Systems (recently acquired by Infineon Technologies. Prior, he was Managing Director at Maxim Integrated (recently acquired by Analog Devices), where he was the power architect of a company-wide platform process and achieved best-in-class efficiency metrics in the automotive, data center, mobility, and industrial markets. Previously, Marco served as the Vice President of IC Technology and Process Development and was the co-founder at Volterra Semiconductor. In this capacity, he successfully developed and executed a foundry-based power process strategy, resulting in six product generations with over 20X cost-performance improvement from initial inception. Volterra Semiconductor was acquired by Maxim Integrated.

Marco holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and a BSEE in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He holds over 78 patents  related to power device architecture, processing and circuit design.

Invited Speaker – Chris Bailey, Arizona State University

Chris Bailey joined Arizona State University (ASU) in 2022 where he is Professor of Advanced Semiconductor Packaging. Prior to this he was Professor of Computational Mechanics & Reliability and Associate Dean for Research at the University of Greenwich, UK.. At ASU, Chris is leading on advanced semiconductor packaging, he is PI on an SRC funded project on Thermo-Mechanical Modelling and Reliability of Redistribution Layers, and Co-I on several large US-Chips-Act funded projects such as SWAP-Hub, SHIELD, and ITSI.

Chris has published 400+ archival papers in electronics packaging and received $40M+ from Government and Industry to support his research activities. Since 2010, Chris has served on the IEEE Electronics Packaging Society Board of Governors, and from 2020-2021, he was the President of the society. Recent awards include IEEE Electronics Packaging Society David Feldman Award and in 2024 he received the Societies Region 8 (Europe) award. He is chair of the EPS Phoenix Chapter, and co-chair for the Co-Design and Modelling & Simulation chapters for the Heterogeneous Integration Roadmap (HIR).

Invited Speaker – Philip Chan, Kyocera SLD Laser

Philip Chan is a member of the technical staff at Kyocera SLD Laser. He received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University and his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara under the supervision of Professor Shuji Nakamura.

In 2022, he joined the research and development team at Kyocera SLD Laser located in Santa Barbara, CA, where he continues to work on design and development of InGaN laser diodes targeting a broad range of visible-light applications.

Capstone Speaker – Gregg Harry, American University and Laser Interferometery Gravitational-wave Observatories (LIGO)

Gregory Harry is a physics professor at American University in Washington DC who has been studying optical coatings for gravitational wave detectors for over 20 years. He received his BS in physics from the California Institute of Technology and PhD in gravitational wave detection from the University of Maryland, College Park. He did postdoctoral research on the Laser Interferometery Gravitational-wave Observatories (LIGO) at Syracuse University and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). As a research scientist with the LIGO Laboratory at MIT he served as the Coating Cognizant Scientist for the Advanced LIGO project that built the currently operating gravitational wave detectors in the US. These detectors made the first detection of gravitational waves, from two colliding black holes, in 2015. While at MIT and American he conceived and edited the book “Optical Coatings and Thermal Noise in Precision Measurement” in 2012, which characterizes the state of coating research for precision optical measurement, including but not limited to gravitational wave detectors. Since 2015 he has spearheaded the effort to develop substrate-transferred compound semiconductor Bragg mirrors, specifically epitaxial gallium arsenide/aluminum gallium arsenide multilayers (AlGaAs), for use in ground-based gravitational wave detectors. This work has been supported by the US National Science Foundation, including a CAREER grant in 2015.