Judges
Meet the 23 judges who devoted countless hours, reviewing over 70 applications, to identify the 2024 finalists. We thank them for their expertise, insight, and time.
Zane Arp
FDA, USA
Zane Arp is Dir. of the Division of Biomedical Physics, Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories, Center for Devices and Radiological Health at the FDA.
Robert Bernath
Townes Institute (TISTEF), USA
Robert Bernath has knowledge across lithography, filamentation, LIBS, advanced material processing, EMP production and diagnostics, laser-produced plasmas, x-ray generation, and laser development for SWaP.
Walter Burgess
Power Technology, USA
Walter Burgess is VP, Sales and engineering at Power Technology, a manufacturer and supplier of laser diode products.
Rosalie Clemens
AmeriCOM, USA
Rosalie Clemens has over 20 years' experience in R&D, product line management, and executive business leadership; currently VP, Workforce Development and Community Engagement at the American Center for Optics Manufacturing (AmeriCOM).
Damon Diehl
Nextcorps Luminate, USA
Damon Diehl is the Director of Technology Integration at the Luminate Accelerator, the largest startup accelerator program in the world for optics-, photonics-, and imaging-based companies, with expertise in holography, teaching, technical writing, and mentorship.
Marie-Christine Ferland
Photon etc., Canada
Marie-Christine Ferland is the Business Development Director at Photon etc., is a Canadian manufacturer of infrared cameras, widely tunable optical filters and hyperspectral imaging.
Simi George
AXA-XL, USA
Simi George is Senior COE Leader (VP), Business Solutions Analyst Center of Excellence at AXA-XL, the world leader in large P&C commercial lines and specialty risks.
Bo Gu
BOS Photonics, USA and China
Bo Gu worked for IPG Photonics as Director of Asian Operations and General Manager of IPG China from 2008 to 2012 before he formed BOS Photonics to develop photonics technologies and provide consulting services.
Ferechteh Hosseini Teherani
Nanovation, France
Ferechteh H. Teherani has been involved with the development of novel oxide thin film materials and devices for over 25 years.
Qiongying Hu
Coherent, USA
Qiongying has a PhD in Chemistry and has over ten years of experience in R&D and marketing of photonics products. She is in strategic marketing at Coherent Inc. with a focus on laser systems in display and microelectronics manufacturing.
Shahida Imani
Imani Consultancy Ltd, Scotland
Shahida Imani is the Executive Director of the Imani Consultancy in Edinburgh and the former CEO at Chromacity, making lasers accessible for researchers, enabling more discoveries.
Zhenlin Li
Photon Fund, USA
Zhenlin Li is a Partner and Managing Director at the Photon Fund, a venture capital firm based in Santa Clara, California that invests in biomedicine, new energy, and high-end manufacturing.
Anjul Loiacono
ColdQuanta, USA
Anjul Loiacono is biomedical engineer and Product Management Team Lead at ColdQuanta, previously at Double Helix Optics and Thorlabs.
Gisele Maxwell
Alcon, USA
Gisele Maxwell is a Principal Engineer in the surgical R&D team at Alcon. She is the former Founder and CEO of Shasta Crystals Inc.
Jason McClure
Teledyne Princeton Instruments, USA
Jason McClure is Chief Technology Officer at Princeton Instruments, a business unit of Teledyne Digital Imaging, leading their product development efforts.
Alison McLeod
Technology Scotland, Scotland
Alison is Director of Photonics Scotland at Technology Scotland, the representative body for the enabling technology sector in Scotland.
Nishant Mohan
Notal Vision, USA
Nishant is Chief Technology and Product Officer at Notal Vision. Previously at Tesseract Health, PhotoniCare, and Wasatch Photonics, he has participated in the R&D and commercialization of OCT for over a decade.
Jérôme Prieur
AUREA Technology, France
Jérôme has over 20 years of experience in managing companies’ growth in photonics, laser, and optical fiber communication systems. He cofounded AUREA Technology in 2010 and currently is President and Director of Sales.
Ryszard Romaniuk
Warsaw Univ. of Technology, Poland
Ryszard is a professor at WUT. His 40 years of experience in photonics include R&D, glass, laser and optical fiber industry consulting, governmental positions and postgraduate teaching.
Robert Sewell
ICFO, Spain
Robert is a tenured scientist and Head of Academic Affairs at ICFO in Barcelona. He is also Co-Director of the Master of Multidisciplinary Research in Experimental Sciences offered by the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in collaboration with BIST.
Cather Simpson
Engender Technologies, New Zealand
Miriam Cather Simpson is a New Zealand-American physics/chemistry academic (University of Auckland) and entrepreneur (Engender Technologies and Orbis Diagnostics).
Linda Smith
Ceres Technology Advisors, USA
Linda Smith founded Ceres Technology Advisors, a merger and acquisition firm for photonics businesses. She has more than 30 years experience in merger & acquisition advisory, engineering, business valuation, and more.
Mark A. Tolbert
TOPTICA Photonics, USA
Mark A. Tolbert is the President and CEO of TOPTICA Photonics. Mark has a degree in Physics and received his MBA from the Simon School of Business.