Smart Spaces: Smart Lighting ERC Industry - Academia Days
Speaker Biographies and Company Information
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David Rosowsky
Dean, School of Engineering and Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, RPI
David V. Rosowsky was appointed the 15th Dean of Engineering at Rensselaer in 2009. From 2004-2009, Dr. Rosowsky served as Head of the Zachry Department of
Civil Engineering at Texas A&M University, where he also held the A.P. and Florence Wiley Chair in Civil Engineering. He currently serves on the Editorial Board of the
journal Structural Safety and is a past editorial board member of the ASCE Journal of Infrastructure Systems, the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering and the
journal Natural Hazards Review. Dr. Rosowsky has authored or co-authored more than 130 papers in peer-reviewed journals and more than 150 papers appearing in
conference proceedings. A recognized expert in the field of structural reliability, he has been invited to present his research work around the world. He has supervised more than 20 Masters and Doctoral students. He is the recipient of
the ASCE Walter L. Huber Research Prize, the T.K. Hseih Award from the Institution of Civil Engineers (UK), and the ASCE Norman Medal. Dr. Rosowsky maintains an active
research program in wind and earthquake engineering and continues to supervise graduate students and post-doctoral researchers. He is a member of numerous editorial boards,
national technical committees, is a registered Professional Engineer, and holds the rank of Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Robert F. Karlicek
Director, Smart Lighting ERC, RPI
Dr. Robert F. Karlicek, Jr. is currently the Director of the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
an NSF and industry funded program exploring advanced applications for next generation lighting. Prior to joining RPI,
he spent over 30 years in industrial research and R&D management positions with corporations including AT&T Bell Labs,
EMCORE, General Electric, Gore Photonics, Microsemi, Luminus Devices and SolidUV. His technical experience includes epitaxial
growth of high performance LEDs and lasers, advanced device fabrication and high power LED packaging, thermal management,
control systems design and applications in solid state lighting as well as other novel LED uses such as IR and UV LED applications.
Dr. Karlicek is well known globally as an LED industry expert, and is a frequent presenter at conferences and workshops.
He obtained his PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh and has over 40 published technical papers and 24 U.S. patents.
Silvia Mioc
Director, Industrial Collaboration & Innovation, Smart Lighting ERC, RPI
Dr. Silvia Mioc received her PhD in Physics from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and her MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management. Her professional
experience spans displays, medical devices and optical technologies, in settings ranging from academia and national labs to startups, large companies and non-profits.
In addition, she has been involved in working with state, local and regulatory agencies, and has lobbied federal legislators for sustained increased funding for R&D
and Math and Science Education. She speaks 5 languages, and has done business in Europe and Asia. Dr. Mioc comes to RPI after having been with Corning, Inc. since 2006
as a Business Development Manager in the Display Future's Emerging Markets and Technologies group. In that role, she was a key player in bringing to the corporation the
understanding of the latest developments in the display industry in order to feed and support early R&D projects in the pipeline. Among other responsibilities, she led
the strategic external engagement with academia and industry. She also organized complex series of events targeted at increasing the visibility of Corning Display Futures
group and establishing a dialogue with key thought leaders in the industry. Prior to Corning, Dr.Mioc spent 8 years in the medical devices industry in both technical and
business development roles. She worked in Colorado for the pulse oximetry division of Datex-Ohmeda, a Finnish company that became part of GE Healthcare in 2003.
Linda Schadler
Professor & Associate Dean, Materials Science & Engineering, RPI
Dr. Linda S. Schadler joined Rensselaer in 1996 and is currently a full Professor in Materials Science and Engineering. She graduated from Cornell
University in 1985 with a B.S. in materials science and engineering and received a PhD in materials science and engineering in 1990 from the
University of Pennsylvania. After two years of post-doctoral work at IBM Yorktown Heights, Schadler served as a faculty member at Drexel University
in Philadelphia, PA before coming to Rensselaer. Active in materials research for 20 years, Schadler is an experimentalist and her research has focused
on the micromechanical behavior of two-phase systems, primarily polymer composites. Her interests have broadened to include the mechanical and electrical
behavior of nanofilled polymer composites. Schadler has co-authored more than 110 journal publications, several book chapters, and one book. Dr. Schadler
received a National Science Foundation National Young Investigator award in 1994 and the ASM International Bradley Staughton Award for Teaching in 1997.
She received a Dow Outstanding New Faculty member award from the American Society of Engineering Education in 1998 and is an ASM International Fellow.
Payman Zarkesh-Ha
Assistant Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, UNM
Payman Zarkesh-Ha received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from Sharif University, Tehran, Iran, in 1994 and Georgia Institute of
Technology, Atlanta, GA, in 2001, respectively. He is currently an assistant professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of
New Mexico in Albuquerque, NM. Prior to joining University of New Mexico in 2006, he was a senior research engineer with LSI Logic Corporation, Milpitas, CA; where
he worked on interconnect architecture design for the next ASIC generations. Prof. Zarkesh-Ha served as industry liaison for LSI Logic Corp. with Semiconductor
Research Corporation (SRC) and Microelectronics Advanced Research Corporation (MARCO) from 2001-2006. His research interests includes: low-power and high-performance
VLSI designs, RF circuit design, and statistical modeling of nanoelectronic devices and systems. He has published over 50 refereed papers and holds ten issued patents
in this field. He has been involved with Smart Lighting NSF-ERC project at RPI since 2009, where he was working on an integrated LED/detector arrays for
visible light communication.
Thomas Little
Associate Director, Smart Lighting ERC, and Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University
Thomas D.C. Little is a professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Boston University.
Prof. Little is Associate Director of the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center -- a collaboration of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
the University of New Mexico, and Boston University. His recent research efforts include video sensor networks and streaming in wireless settings,
ubiquitous optical networking with visible light, vehicle-to-vehicle/infrastructure (V2X) communications, and the application of wireless sensors
in health monitoring. Dr. Little founded TVisions, Inc. (now Molecular, Inc.), in 1994 with Ralph Folz. Dr. Little received the BS degree in biomedical
engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1983, and the MS degree in electrical engineering and PhD degree in computer engineering from
Syracuse University in 1989 and 1991. He is a senior member of the IEEE, a member of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies and a member of
the Association for Computing Machinery. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Multimedia Tools and Applications and on various program
committees for the IEEE and ACM.
John Wen
Professor, ECSE Department, RPI
John Wen is a Professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer, & Systems Engineering, with a joint appointment in the Department of
Mechanical, Aerospace, & Nuclear Engineering. He is also the Director of the Center for Automation Technologies and Systems (CATS), a
New York State designated Center for Advanced Technology. His research interest is related to themodeling and control of complex dynamical
systems, with applications to precision motion, robot manipulation, active optics, thermal management, active flow control, and smart lighting.
He received B.Eng. from McGill University, M.S. from University of Illinois, and Ph.D. from RPI, all in Electrical Engineering. He was also
a systems engineer in Fisher Controls, and a member of technical staff in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Dr. Wen is a Fellow of IEEE.
Mohamed Chouikha
Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Howard University
Mohamed F. Chouikha received a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from The University of Colorado, Boulder in 1988. Since 1988 he has been with
the Department of Electrical Engineering at Howard University. In July 2000 he became the Chair of the EE Department. M. Chouikha research interests
include detection and estimation, Multimedia Signal Processing and machine learning application to control systems. Funded research based on these areas
include: Classification and Visualization of Breast and Colon cancers, Adaptive spectrum allocation –Cognitive Radio- for secure networks, Data fusion and
pattern recognition for UXV situation perception. On the education/instruction side, Dr. Chouikha focus is on enhancing the recruitment and retention of
underrepresented minorities in the STEM areas in general and engineering in particular through the use of the “Mobile Studio”. He is also promoting the
use of the mobile studio in other HBCU institutions and across Africa. He is a member of the outreach faculty in the ERC Smart lighting Center.
Dr. Chouikha was the founding director of the Center for Applied High Performance Computing and the Washington Academy of Biomedical Engineering. In 2004,
he lead a team of faculty members in establishing a new Computer Engineering program within the Department of Electrical Engineering, since then renamed
as the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Howard University . Dr. Chouikha continues to advise graduate and undergraduate students,
to date he has advised about 40 PhDs and Ms Students.
Charles Joenathan
Professor and Chair, Department of Physics and Optical Engineering, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Dr. Charles Joenathan is a fellow of the Optical Society of America (OSA), International Society of Optical Engineers (SPIE), and the optical society
of India (OSI). He is in the program committee of the Optics East conference and European optics conference and has chaired sessions. He has published
over 90 refereed journal articles and 50 conference presentations in the field of speckle phenomena, speckle interferometry, holography, holographic
optical elements, fiber optic sensors, and optical data processing. He was an Alexander von Humboldt fellow and worked at the Institute for Technical
Optics, University of Stuttgart, Germany and a UNESCO fellow at University of La Plata, Argentina. He has written two book chapters and has given many
invited presentation nationally and internationally. He has taken several of his research ideas and has introduced labs with faculty members in the department
to bring state-of-the-art laboratory exercises to the undergraduate classes. He was the recipient of the NSF ILI grant to improve the metrology lab in the optical
engineering program. Additionally he has traveled to Germany, Turkey, and India to create exchange programs for Rose-Hulman and the physics and
optical engineering department.
Yacob Astatke
Dr. Yacob Astatke completed both his Doctor of Engineering and B.S.E.E. degrees from Morgan State University (MSU) and his M.S.E.E. from Johns Hopkins University.
He joined MSU in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department in 1994 and currently serves as the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies. Dr. Astatke
has more than 15 years experience in the development and delivery of synchronous and asynchronous web-based course supplements for electrical engineering courses. He
also runs several exciting summer camps geared towards middle and high school students to expose and increase their interested in pursuing STEM fields. In addition,
every summer he travels to Ethiopia to provide training and guest lectures related to the use of the Mobile Studio Technology and pedagogy in the ECE department of
Hawassa University, and Addis Ababa University.
Kenneth Connor
Director, Education & Outreach, Smart Lighting ERC and Professor, Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering, RPI
Dr. Connor teaches courses on plasma physics, electromagnetics, electronics and instrumentation, electric power, and general Engineering. His research
involves two primary topics: 1) The application of heavy particle beam -based diagnostics to plasmas of interest to the thermonuclear fusion community,
for which he was made a Fellow of the IEEE in 1997; and 2) The study of electromagnetic phenomena, especially those associated with high frequency waves.
Dr. Connor also maintains an interest in other plasma physics and electromagnetics topics, photonics, engineering education, diversity in the engineering
workforce, and technology enhanced learning. Since joining the Rensselaer faculty in 1974, he has been continuously involved in research programs at such
places as Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Universities of Texas and Wisconsin in the US, Kyoto and Nagoya Universities in Japan, the Ioffe Institute
in Russia and Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology in Ukraine. He was ECSE Department Head from 2001-2008 and served on the board of the ECE Department
Heads Association from 2003-2008.
Jennifer Veitch
Senior Research Officer, Institute for Research in Construction, National Research Council Canada
Dr. Veitch is a Senior Research Officer in the National Research Council of Canada Institute for Research in Construction, where she leads research into lighting
effects on health and behaviour. She is best known for her research on lighting quality, which has influenced lighting design recommendations in North America through
the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America Lighting Handbook (IES) and the IES design guide Light + Design: A Guide to Designing Quality Lighting
for People and Buildings. She is a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association, the American Psychological Association, and the Illuminating Engineering Society
of North America. She is active on committees in the lighting and psychology communities, in Canada and abroad. Among her current research activities, she is co-project
manager for the NRC-IRC project "Solid State Lighting in the Office of the Future".
NRC Institute for Research in Construction
NRC IRC is Canada's leading construction research and technology development agency. NRC Construction brings quality to the built environment by performing research and development, product evaluation, developing test methods, standards and decision-support tools. Today, NRC-IRC and industry are focused on finding technologies and cost-effective solutions for a number of emerging issues: productivity; global competitiveness; the need to decrease energy use and greenhouse gas emissions; the need for healthier indoor environment; the overall health and safety of built environments; and water issues.
Carol Jones
Senior Project Manager, Application and Specification Lighting Systems and Services, Philips Research North America
Ms. Carol Jones is a recognized national lighting expert who works towards the dual goals of lighting quality and energy efficiency. At Philips, Carol works in the areas of
innovation and research, with a focus on Applications Solutions within the Lighting Systems and Services department. In her recent but former life, Carol led the USDOE Commercial
Lighting Solutions program, whose goal is to provide best practice energy efficient lighting solutions for mainstream adoption along with project-specific energy savings estimates.
She founded and managed the Light Right Consortium, which is a group that investigates and educates about the relationship between high quality energy efficient lighting and worker
productivity in office environments. Prior to Light Right, she contributed to the revision of the ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-1999 from 1990 through 1999. Carol has been with Philips
since July, and was previously with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for 17 years and Horton Lees Lighting Design, Inc. from 1989-1994. Carol is a past Chairperson of the IESNA
Quality of the Visual Environment Committee, and is the past chair of the energy committees for both the IALD and the IESNA.
Philips Research North America
Philips Research North America contributes to the global research programs in the fields of Healthcare and Lighting. Research is conducted in the areas of Controls, Communication, & Healthcare Informatics (CCHI), Clinical Informatics, Interventional, & Translational Solutions (CIITS), and Ultrasound, Photonics, and Bioinformatics (UPB). The Department “Lighting Solutions and Services, located in Briarcliff Manor, NY, and Burlington, MA, develops and transfers regional and global innovations in lighting systems and solutions to the business, and partners with the regional businesses and markets in transforming the lighting market towards LEDs, solutions and services. Our work covers LED conversion and systems, light and energy management and lighting services for all market segments, e.g. office, outdoor, and healthcare. Our key capabilities include drivers and electronics; controls and algorithms; networks and communication; analytics, reasoning and optimization; simulation and modeling; systems engineering; application concepts development; pilots, demonstration and validation.
Steve Johnson
CTO, Solais
Prior to joining Solais, Steve was Group Leader for the Lighting Research Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory ("LBNL") in Berkeley, California from 1996 to 2006.
He directed research in the area of both LEDs and OLEDs. Prior to LBNL, Dr. Johnson has 25 years of experience in the lighting industry, including holding positions as
Chairman of the Board of Advanced Microelectronics Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Suzhou, PRC), President of Mitor Industries (Mankato, MN) and Director of Fluorescent Product
Management for Philips Lighting Company (Somerset, NJ). He received his BS from Furman University, his Ph.D. from University of Tennessee, and held a post-Doctoral
appointment at Yale University.
Solais
Solais Lighting is a market-driven manufacturing company, passionate about improving environments through innovative LED lighting solutions. The company designs and builds the world's premier LED lamps with the lightweight, output, focused-beam and full-dimming features required to replace halogen reflector lamps. Their product combines the long life and energy-efficiency of LEDs with the lumen output and intensity of halogen, resulting in a high-performance product, perfect for track and recessed fixtures in commercial, museum, retail, hospitality and high-end residential applications.
Brian Chemel
CTO, Digital Lumens
Brian leads product strategy, intellectual property, and software development efforts for Digital Lumens, leveraging his extensive technical and entrepreneurial background in the
field of solid-state lighting. Prior to starting Digital Lumens, he was a technical lead and development team manager as Director of Control Product Development at Color Kinetics,
the pioneer of intelligent LED illumination systems, which was acquired by Philips Lighting in 2007. Prior to his time in the lighting industry, Brian designed autonomous mobile
robotic systems as a researcher at the National Robotics Engineering Consortium for clients including DARPA and the U.S. Department of Energy. He has also co-authored more than a
dozen US and international patents in the fields of solid-state lighting, embedded controls, and robotics. Brian holds a Master of Science in Robotics and a Bachelor of Science in
Computer Science, both from Carnegie Mellon University.
Digital Lumens
Digital Lumens' Intelligent Lighting System combines LEDs, sensors, networking and software into a single, integrated system which reduces our customers' lighting-related energy usage by up to 90%.
Aaron Ganick
CEO, ByteLight
Aaron Ganick is the CEO of ByteLight. While working on his BS in Electrical Engineering at Boston University, Aaron did work in the Smart Lighting ERC group.
Since 2010, when he received his degree, he has developed business strategies and technology solutions which leverage the limitless benefits of solid state lighting.
Aaron brings with him multiple years of field experience in electrical and mechanical system design, and has a passion for technology commercialization and entrepreneurship.
ByteLight
ByteLight is the first startup resulting from the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center work at Boston University, seeking to commercialize visible light communication technology. The current focus is on building an indoor positioning platform for smart-phones using LED lights. Patrons that enter an area outfitted with ByteLight's LED bulbs can use their phones to navigate indoors, receive hyper-local content, and pull up additional information about the objects in-front of them. Using this service, ByteLight provides mobile developers the tools to build better location awareness into their mobile apps.
