As Principal Investigator, secured over $1 million in funding with a proposal selection rate of 43%.LADAR/LiDAR technology• Leading a Phase II NASA SBIR advanced wind LiDAR program as Principal Investigator.• Technical lead on a debris and topography mapping LiDAR system for rocket landings.Microwave/RF systems development• Engineering lead for a wide-band advanced radar and electronic countermeasures transceiver module.• System design and modeling using CST Microwave Studio for a hypersonics communications platform.Business Development• Technical lead on Navy SBIR Transition Program to ready a hypersonics communication system for Phase III transition.• Developing a business partnership and a cross-tool product design workflow with a multi-billion dollar EDA company.• Established a facilities use relationship with a semiconductor fabrication center at a major R1 Research Institution.

Optical sensors design:• Successfully led a Phase I SBIR advanced wind LiDAR program for NASA as Principal investigator.RF systems development:• Designed microwave signal processing hardware for radar generator and test systems.• Developed a Visual Basic tool comparing AWR Microwave Office component libraries with DXF drawings archives.

Systems Development:• Technical proposal writing for Phase I and Phase II sensor systems programs funding.• Designed microstrip interconnects for an advanced microwave circuit card assembly.

Quantum cascade laser device fabrication and processing:• Investigated aluminum nitride deposition processes for advanced mid-infrared quantum cascade laser devices.• Performed systematic thermal annealing study for low-resistance metal contacts.

Research focus: materials and device development toward the world’s first type-I diode laser operating at wavelengths beyond 4 µm.Additional responsibilities:• Mentorship and technical guidance of doctoral students in experimental methods and optoelectronic device fabrication.• Upgraded an optical spectrometer data acquisition system.

Major research accomplishments:• Longest wavelength (3.62 µm) type-I diode laser with an Al-free active region.• Demonstrations of photoluminescence from type-I semiconductor materials with peak wavelengths up to 4.2 µm.• First epitaxial growth of GaInAsSbBi alloys, incorporating up to 3% Bi.• First demonstration of room-temperature photoluminescence from GaInAsSbBi alloys.• Demonstrations of high-quality, droplet-free GaInAsSbBi alloys on GaSb.Contributions to laboratory and facilities development:• Operated and maintained two Gen. II molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) systems with associated laboratory equipment and electronics (bake-out station, vacuum pumps, residual gas analyzers, power supplies, PID controllers, etc.).• Developed an ultra-high vacuum-compatible heated scraper for indium buildup exfoliation.• Designed a shutter/bellows assembly method to prevent in-vacuum MBE shutter detachment.• Designed and implemented a support assembly for in-glovebag repair and maintenance of MBE substrate manipulators.• Designed and built a pump-probe optical transmission test bench with sub-picosecond resolution to measure carrier recombination lifetimes in semiconductors.• Increased the test automation capability of the MRC Hall test bench.• Repurposed an underused lab for a Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and infrared microscope test station.Software tools developed:• Self-consistent data analysis and fitting tool using Python that analyzes X-ray diffraction measurements of epitaxially-grown semiconductor crystals to determine the semiconductor alloys.• Data analysis scripts to calculate and present performance metrics of laser devices and materials.• Maintained and upgraded a web-based SQL database to record laboratory activity and track consumable supplies.Mentorship and professional development:• Directed the work of eight individuals participating in NSF summer and semester research experiences.

Research and development:• Designed, prototyped, and tested industrial-scale optical sensing equipment and object detection systems for automated recyclables sorting.• Performed testing and troubleshooting of optical sensing systems used in materials identification and separation.• Researched methods of glass identification and separation using ultraviolet fluorescence measurements.Product development and support:• Interfaced with mechanical, electrical, and software engineers to design sorting systems for materials recovery facilities.• Created quality control checklists for electronics production.• Provided operations support for new and legacy equipment deployed in the field.Engineering design:• Designed and tested CPLD-based data processing and handling sub-systems using Quartus FPGA Design.• Created electrical schematics and PCB layouts using Altium Designer.• Created and trained materials identification libraries from sampled data sets for a variety of input materials streams.• Calibrated detection/decision thresholds for application-specific optimization of materials identification and sorting.

Optical characterization and measurement:• Supervised the General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems Photonics Laboratory and technical staff.• Measured transmission degradation in diffractive optics and polymer waveguides exposed to simulated space radiation.• Collaborated with external groups to perform radiation dose exposure tests on optical elements designed for spacebased applications.Systems integration and development:• Collaborated with external teams to integrate photonics elements into a proposed space-based high-speed optical communications system.• Designed and executed regression testing of a GPS RF receiver module in development, and reported the results.Optical signal processing:• Created a LabVIEW GUI to control a high-speed optical data communications switch and signal processing test bed, reporting on operating metric such as link uptime, transmitted/received data, data rate, and bit error rates.• Simulated optical signal processing linearization techniques using oversampling methods.Member of the New Employee Engagement Committee.

Facilities development:• Supervised the General Dynamics C4 Systems Photonics Laboratory.• Managed a capital expenditures budget of $7,000 per month to acquire equipment and expand lab testing capability.Systems integration:• Calculated link budgets and size, weight, and power (SWaP) for satellite-based optical communication systems.• Performed investigations of emerging photonics technology for high-speed optical communications.

Primary research efforts:• Performed experimental investigations on the operation of synchronously-pumped optical parametric oscillators.• Developed mathematical models and simulations of synchronously-pumped optical parametric oscillator characteristics using MATLAB.Other responsibilities:• Supervised the safe operation of a high-powered optical test bench for a photoacoustic imaging experiment.

Engineering design and testing:• Maintained a LabVIEW test bench and wrote data analysis software using Perl and MATLAB for a space fuel cell research project.• Designed the Thermal Interface Board for the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope using Mentor Graphics Design Architect.Engineering support:• Procured parts for satellite manufacturing based on engineer specifications.• Assisted the Lead Engineer for Command and Data Handling on the NFIRE satellite.

• Maintained email and web applications at Arizona State University. • Provided IT technical support to faculty, staff, and students.