Henry Ahn joined the National Science Foundation in July 2016 as an SBIR/STTR Program Director. Prior to joining NSF, Henry managed seed/early stage investment programs for TEDCO for 12 years including Technology Commercialization Fund, TEDCO’s flagship seed funding program for technology-based companies in Maryland. During his time at TEDCO, Henry was actively involved with various entrepreneurs and entrepreneur support groups as a guest speaker, an advisory board member, a judge, a mentor, among others. Additionally, Henry was part of the licensing/supplier relations team at a biotechnology company called Upstate, where he successfully negotiated, licensed and commercialized approximately 190 biomedical research reagents from around the world. Henry has also done approximately 5 years of research, mostly in the field of immunology (including graduate work). Henry has an MBA from Rice University, an M.S. in biotechnology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and a B.S. in biomedical engineering from Boston University.
Peter Atherton comes to the NSF with a broad background in the physical sciences, and extensive experience in technology development and commercialization. Before joining NSF Peter was originally CEO, and most recently CTO, at MIKOH Corporation Ltd, a publicly traded company that he founded in Sydney, Australia. Prior to MIKOH he spent approximately 7 years at the Overseas Telecommunications Commission (OTC Australia) where he managed optical fiber communications R&D, including approximately 14 months in the UK at British Telecom’s Martlesham Heath R&D laboratories. While at OTC his research group made world-leading advances in high-speed optical communications technologies, some of which were commercialized via spin-off companies. He also managed the externally contracted development and commercialization of a number of optical fiber and optoelectronic technologies, and was instrumental in establishing a commercialization center for specialized optical fibers at the University of Sydney. While at MIKOH Corporation he was instrumental in developing and commercializing technologies in a range of fields including diffractive optics, laser-based marking, radio frequency identification and internet-based personal authentication. He moved to the US in 1998 to further develop the company’s technologies and markets. Peter holds a Ph.D. in physics (Quantum Optics), and a BEng (Mech) – both from the University of Queensland (Australia).
Anna Brady-Estevez joined the National Science Foundation as SBIR/STTR Program Director leading Chemical and Environmental Technologies. In this role she brings breadth of background across entrepreneurship and venture capital, innovative research, and direction of corporate strategy and investments. Anna has served as a collaborator with numerous start-ups having worked as: an inventor for an early stage venture-backed start-up providing low-cost, low-energy portable water treatment, and a Principal Investor for an early stage venture firm. Anna’s contributions were recognized in 2009 when she was selected as one of ~30 Kauffman Fellows from around the globe, for leadership in innovation and venture capital. She served as Director of Corporate Strategy for leading multinationals including The AES Corporation and Cummins Inc., and advised numerous clients while serving as a management consultant for The Boston Consulting Group. Anna’s work in these roles resulted in over $6B of infrastructure investments with enhanced returns, identification of $B+ cost reduction opportunities, contributing to a core transformation team of a $T+ entity in oil & gas, and the implementation of several new technologies spanning: nanotechnology, advanced manufacturing, Big Data and Internet of Things, along with new equipment that enabled transforming energy economics. Earlier in her career, she performed research at the intersection of innovation and international relations with the Office of Naval Research at the US Embassy in Chile. Anna holds a PhD from Yale University in Chemical and Environmental Engineering, where she held a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship; and a BS in Chemical Engineering and BA in Spanish from The Johns Hopkins University.
Barry W. Johnson currently serves as Acting Assistant Director for the Directorate for Engineering at NSF. Barry was named Division Director of the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP) in the Directorate for Engineering at NSF in March 2015. Prior to that, Barry was the Senior Associate Dean in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia. He was also the L.A. Lacy Distinguished Professor of Engineering. He is founder and director of the University of Virginia Center for Safety-Critical Systems. In 1998 he was a founder of Privaris, Inc. While on leave from the University of Virginia from 2002 to 2006 he served as Chairman, President, and CEO of Privaris, and he continues to serve as Chairman. He represents the University of Virginia on the Board of Directors of the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM) and served as its founding Chairman, President, and Executive Director. He also represents the University of Virginia on the Board of Directors of the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Logistics Systems and currently serves as Chairman. Previously he was with Harris Corporation in Melbourne, Florida where he designed and analyzed fault-tolerant computer systems for aerospace applications.
Glenn Larsen joined the National Science Foundation in 1987 as the computer systems engineer for NSF’s Directorate for Engineering. In 2005, he became program director for the Industry/University Cooperative Research Center’s (I/UCRC) Fundamental Research program and in 2010 joined the SBIR/STTR Program as Program Director for Education Applications and Information Technology. His entrepreneurial experience includes retailing, software services, computer manufacturing, new home construction, subdivision development, and a physical fitness center. As a lifelong learner, he holds several professional certifications including the Project Management Professional (PMP), Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), and Master Business Coach (MBC). His degrees include the Ph.D. and MBA. He has authored several books on computer graphics and computer operating systems selling over 300,000 copies which were later translated five different languages.
Debasis Majumdar joined the National Science Foundation as a Program Director in the Industrial Innovation and Partnerships Division of the Engineering Directorate in 2015. Prior to joining NSF, he was a Research Associate at Saint-Gobain and a Senior Principal Scientist at Eastman Kodak Company, spanning an industrial career of over 30 years. In that capacity, he was engaged in applied research, new product development and commercialization, manufacturing excellence, technology transfer and intellectual property development and management. His research expertise includes advanced materials comprising polymers, metals, ceramics, inorganic-organic nanocomposites and functional coatings for a variety of applications such, as imaging, display and life science. He is a co-inventor of more than 100 US patents and a co-author of more than 30 peer reviewed papers and book chapters. Debasis holds a Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Northwestern University and a B.Tech. degree in Metallurgical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.
Rajesh Mehta joined the National Science Foundation as a SBIR/STTR Program Director for Nanotechnology, Advanced Materials and Manufacturing in August 2012. Prior to joining NSF, he was a senior research technologist at Kodak where his 26-year career spanned work at Kodak Research Laboratories, and Manufacturing Research and Engineering Organization. His work covered a broad range of materials science based technologies related to photographic film and paper manufacturing, thermal, inkjet, and electro-photographic printing, and OLED device manufacturing. He was granted several Kodak achievement awards for the scientific merit and commercial impact of his contributions. He also holds over 32 U.S. patents. Rajesh has a B. Tech. degree in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering from Penn State, and a M.S. degree in New Product Development from Rochester Institute of Technology.
Murali S. Nair is a Program Director in the areas of Electronic Hardware, Robotics, and Wireless Technologies with the SBIR/STTR Program. Prior to joining NSF, he was the Founder CEO of a Bluetooth wireless product company. In this capacity, he raised equity capital for worldwide operations in the U.S., China and India. He designed, planned and implemented the product development cycle, and managed the marketing strategy, strategic alliances and business development processes. Before that, he was a Senior Systems Engineer at L-3 Communications where he provided strategic advice to the Executive VP for a complete re-plan of the Hughes contract for real-time, embedded ground control software for the $350M PANAMSAT communications satellite. Prior to joining L-3 Communications, he was a Mission Planner at Motorola Iridium where he was involved in all aspects of satellite operations including orbit determination, generating guidance targets and orbital slot placement. Before joining Iridium, he was a faculty member at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, where he developed an entire Space Systems Design Lab from concept inception to fully operational mode and national prominence, and supervised five (5) space system designs, three (3) of which were winners in the National AIAA/Loral Design Competition. He is a recipient of a number of awards including NSF’s second highest award for meritorious service and the President’s Innovation Award for Space Systems Design courses while at Embry-Riddle. Murali is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology and the University of Texas. He is a registered professional engineer in the State of Florida.
Graciela (Gracie) Narcho currently serves as the Acting Division Director for the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP) at NSF. Gracie was named the Deputy Division Director for IIP and the Director of the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization and Small Business Research and Development at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in March of 2015. She has 25 years of experience in science and engineering administration and management. Gracie came to IIP in 2013 from the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) where her most recent position was Staff Associate in the Office of the Assistant Director. During her 10 year tenure at CISE, she served in multiple senior positions including Deputy Assistant Director for the CISE Directorate, Deputy Division Director for the Division of Computer and Network Systems, and Special Assistant to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Grants at the Department of Health and Human Services. She was also the program manager for several large CISE grants, including the Global Environments for Networking Innovation (GENI), the National Center for Women in IT (NCWIT), and the Computing Community Consortium (CCC). Prior to joining CISE, Gracie was a Grants Officer in the NSF Division of Grants and Agreements, where she provided business oversight of NSF’s Federally Funded Research and Development Centers and large facility projects. Gracie holds a MPA in Government Contracting from George Washington University and a B.A. in Economics from Tufts University.
Ben Schrag is the acting Deputy Division Director for the Engineering Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships at NSF, and the Senior Program Director for the SBIR programs. He joined the NSF as a Program Director in 2009 and leads the Advanced Materials and Instrumentation portfolio in the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs. Prior to NSF, he was the Director of Research and Development at Micro Magnetics, where he led a development effort to commercialize a new family of high-performance magnetic microsensor products for demanding consumer and military applications. During this time, he also served as a visiting scientist at Brown University and as the Principal Investigator on a number of federal grants and contracts, including NSF Phase I and Phase II Small Business Innovation Research projects and an Advanced Technology Program award from NIST. Ben received his Ph.D. in Physics from Brown University.
Rick Schwerdtfeger joined the National Science Foundation in August 2016 as the SBIR/STTR Program Director for the Semiconductors and Photonics, and Internet of Things (IoT) portfolios. Prior to joining NSF, Rick was the CTO and Co-Founder of the Advanced RenewableEnergy Company, a clean-tech and semiconductor equipment company, where he led the technology development and customer deployment of nearly $200MM of equipment in the first 4 years. Additionally he was the COO of Pica Solar, a DOE-funded solar cell technologies start-up. Rick is also an advisory board member of ClearCove Systems, a waste water and renewable energy company. In addition to these entrepreneurial ventures, Rick was a Senior Project Scientist at the non-profit Edison Materials Technology Center, a Senior R&D Scientist at Saint Gobain, and the Crystal Growth Group leader at Alpha Spectra. He started his career as a Staff Scientist doing solar energy research at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Rick as grown some of the largest sapphire, calcium fluoride, sodium iodide, and copper indium diselenide crystals in the world, which have been used to lower costs of technology for energy, lighting, radiation detection and other industrial and photonic applications. Rick has spent his career taking the “art” out of science, and replacing it with good engineering, experimentation and automation to solve challenging problems in the renewable energy, clean water, smart grid and high-tech world. Rick holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science from the Colorado School of Mines, an M.S. in Applied Physics from Pittsburg State University, and a B.S. in Physics and Science Education from the University of Dubuque.
Ruth Shuman joined the National Science Foundation in August 2009 as a Program Director for Biological Technologies in the SBIR/STTR Program. Before coming to NSF, she was the founder, president, and CEO of a successful venture-backed life science company, Gentra Systems, Inc., that developed, manufactured, and sold products for genetic testing and research to clinical and research laboratories worldwide. Following Gentra’s acquisition, she held various consulting/advisory positions with start-up companies, and was CEO-In-Residence for Life Science with the University of Minnesota’s Venture Center evaluating the business potential of University-developed technology. She began her career as a faculty member at North Carolina State University and was a pioneer in the development of gene transfer and genetic engineering technology. Ruth holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in the area of Genetics and Cell Biology.
Jesus Soriano joined the NSF in February 2012 as a Program Director in Smart Health and Biomedical Technologies after 20 years of international experience in executive leadership in the biopharmaceutical and non-profit sectors, start-up formation and funding, technology commercialization, and academic teaching and research. Prior to NSF, he was the Senior Advisor to the Puerto Rico Trust for Science, Technology and Research, a technology-based development organization. Previously, he was Executive Vice President at QRxPharma, Ltd., a commercial-stage specialty pharmaceutical company focused in pain management and central nervous system disorders. Before, he was Senior Director of Business Development at Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. During his tenure, Osiris formed a $1.4 billion partnership with Genzyme Corp. to commercialize ProchymalTM and ChondrogenTM, two first-in-class, late-stage adult stem cell therapeutics; and divested to NuVasive, Inc. the first-to market adult stem-cell orthopedic implant, Osteocel®, for $137 million. Previously, he held several executive leadership positions at the global bioresource center ATCC for 5 years, including Vice President for IP, Licensing and International Business Development, and was Associate Director for R&D Operations and Business Development at Entremed, Inc., a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. He began his career as a family doctor in Spain; he then worked for 9 years at the University of Geneva Medical School, Switzerland initially as Research Scientist and then as Assistant Professor. He initially came to the US as a visiting scientist to the National Cancer Institute (NIH) under an advanced researcher fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation. Jesus holds a MBA in Corporate Finance from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School; a Ph.D. in Medical Sciences from the University of Geneva, Switzerland; and a M.D. from the University of Alicante, Spain.