DARPA
Program Manager, Microsystems Technology Office
Dr. David Meyer joined DARPA in February 2025 as a program manager in the Microsystems Technology Office. His research interests include electronic, optoelectronic, and acoustic applications of compound semiconductor and ultrawide bandgap materials, advanced device engineering and microfabrication, and 3D microsystem design & manufacturing.
Meyer previously served as the Head of the Electromagnetic Technologies Branch at the Naval Research Laboratory, where he managed a variety of basic and applied research projects related to emerging thin film materials and microwave & millimeter-wave analog electronics for defense applications.
Meyer received his doctorate in materials science and engineering from The Pennsylvania State University, where his research focused on the development of silicon nitride passivation layers for gallium nitride high electron mobility transistors.
Dr Rodney Pelzel, FREng, CEng, CSci, MIET, FIChemE
Chief Technology Officer & Chief Operating Officer, IQE plc
Dr. Rodney Pelzel has over 25 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, with deep expertise in semiconductor materials engineering and the epitaxial growth of compound semiconductors. He is widely published and is the inventor of 30+ patents. Dr. Pelzel is a thought leader in compound semiconductors and is frequently interviewed to provide insight on market and technology trends.
Dr. Pelzel joined IQE as a Production Engineer in 2000. For the first twelve years of his career with IQE, he held various engineering and operational management roles focusing on scaling leading edge epitaxial technology for volume manufacturing for wireless applications. In 2012, he was appointed as the head of R&D for the IQE Group and was tasked with creating unique materials solutions that enable IQE’s customers and provide them with a competitive edge. Throughout his career, he has been involved in numerous new product introductions including IQE’s highly successful launch of 6” VCSELs for consumer applications.
Dr. Pelzel is a chemical engineer by training, holding a BS (High Distinction) from the University of Colorado (1995) and a PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara (2000). He is a Chartered Engineer and a Chartered Scientist as well as a Fellow of both the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Institution of Chemical Engineers.
Dr. Yun-Li (Charles) Li
PlayNitride
Dr. Yun-Li (Charles) Li is the Co-Founder and CEO of PlayNitride, a global pioneer in MicroLED innovation established in 2014. Under Dr. Li's leadership, PlayNitride has maintained a leading position in the industry, achieving key milestones such as launching Taiwan's first MicroLED production line in 2019 and becoming the first company to list on the Taiwan Innovation Board (TIB) in 2022.
Dr. Li earned his Ph.D. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (USA) in 2003, where he specialized in Gallium Nitride (GaN) LEDs under the supervision of Professor Fred
Tamara Baksht
VisIC Technologies
Tamara Baksht is Chief Executive Officer of VisIC Technologies, a semiconductor company developing high-voltage GaN power devices. She brings extensive experience in advancing power semiconductor technologies from research to industrial deployment. Her talk, “How to Design Your Power GaN: Key Principles and Common Pitfalls,” will address fundamental design considerations and common challenges in realizing reliable, high-performance GaN power devices.
Dr. Victor Veliadis
PowerAmerica/NC State
Dr. Victor Veliadis is Executive Director & CTO of PowerAmerica, a member-driven Manufacturing USA Institute of industry, universities, and national labs accelerating the commercialization of energy efficient silicon carbide and gallium nitride power semiconductor chips and electronics. At PowerAmerica, he has managed a budget of $156 million, which he strategically allocated to over 210 industrial and university projects to catalyze SiC and GaN semiconductor and power electronics manufacturing, workforce development, and job creation. His PowerAmerica educational activities have trained 430 full-time university students in collaborative industry-university wide bandgap (WBG) projects, and engaged over 7500 attendees in tutorials, short courses, and webinars. Since 2024, Dr. Veliadis has been managing a $64M DOE renewal to further catalyze WBG power technologies.
Dr. Veliadis is a professor at NC State University’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, an IEEE Fellow, a National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Fellow, and an IEEE EDS Distinguished Lecturer. He has 27 issued U.S. patents, 13 book chapters, one co-edited book, and 165 peer-reviewed publications to his credit. He has delivered over 230 keynote/tutorial/invited presentations, including keynotes at ICSCRM, ECSCRM, APEC, ECCE, ECPE, IFWS, WiPDA USA, WiPDA Asia, ICAE, ESSDERC, IECON, and EDTM. Prior to entering academia and taking an executive position at Power America in 2016, Dr. Veliadis spent 21 years post-Ph.D. in the semiconductor industry, where his work included design, fabrication, and testing of SiC devices, GaN devices for radar systems, and financial and operations management of a commercial semiconductor fab. He has received military training in the Army Infantry and is a third-degree black belt in Shotokan karate. Dr. Veliadis earned a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University (1995).