Speakers - Alabama

Dr. Hulya Kirkici is Professor and the former Department Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of South Alabama. She received B.S. and M.S. degrees in physics from Middle East Technical University, Turkey; and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Polytechnic University (currently NYU), NY. Previously, Dr. Kirkici was a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Auburn University, a visiting scholar / Faculty Fellow at the Air Force Research Laboratory – Wright Patterson Air Force Base, and a visiting scientist/engineer at NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL. Dr. Kirkici’s research interests include dielectrics and electrical insulation, high-frequency dielectric breakdown in space and aerospace vehicle power systems, and repetitive pulsed power. Her research is funded by federal agencies (AFOSR, AFRL, ARO, NASA) and private companies. She recently started working on semiconductor and microelectronics educational and workforce development projects with grants from NSF. Dr. Kirkici is a Fellow of the IEEE, a member of the American Physical Society (APS), Sigma Xi Scientific Honor Society, IEE Eta Kappa Nu Honor Society, Eminent Member of Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honors Society, and the American Association of University Women (AAUW).

She is a recipient of the IEEE Eric O. Forster Distinguished Service Award, the IEEE William G. Dunbar Award, and the IEEE Sol Schneider Award. Dr. Kirkici is the President-Elect of the IEEE Transportation Electrification Council (2024), a Senior Editor of IEEE Access (2021 – present), was the IEEE Vice President of publications in 2019, a Governor-at-Large member of the IEEE-HKN Board (2020-2023), and the President of the IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society (DEIS) (2009-2010) among other volunteer positions.

Dr. George White is a native son of Southeast Washington, DC. Born to George White, Sr and Juanita Mary Tillman at Freedmans Hospital, now called Howard University Hospital. Dr. White is the Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships in the office of the Vice President for Interdisciplinary Research at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Dr. White provides expert support in developing strategies for expansion of the Institute's innovation collaboration with corporations, government, academia and historically black colleges and university and minority serving institutions, and national labs to supplement the research enterprise at Georgia Tech.

He has co-chaired a number of Georgia Tech’s strategic research initiatives across various technology sectors including Artificial Intelligence, Hypersonics, Biomanufacturing, Additive Manufacturing, Quantum Computing and Trusted Electronics in keeping with the GT vision of establishing a foundation for global leadership in these areas and more recently supported the establishment of the HBCU CHIPS Network and the Research Collaboration Forum both dedicated to increasing research collaboration with HBCUs. Dr. White works with faculty members, industry and non-profit partners to develop and sustain many of Georgia Tech’s strategic research initiatives and engagements.

He received his BA in Physics from Hampton University, and his M.S. and PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign in Metallurgical Engineering. Dr. White is a serial entrepreneur having founded and sold Innovative Packaging Solutions, and Jacket Micro Devices. He has raised more over $22M in start-up capital. He has over 100 scholarly publications and 30 US and international patents. He has participated in the realization of more than $700M in research awards over the course of his career. He has worked in the microelectronics industry for over 30 years. Dr. White was the principal founder of Jacket Micro Devices (JMD), a supplier of RF and mixed signal modules and successful tenures at IBM, Motorola, and the AVX Corporation.

For over three decades, David Vance Lucas has applied his legal, technological, and operational experience to craft strategic advice on intellectual property, international trade, and complex litigation matters. He accumulated much of this experience while serving as general counsel for a global technology company and later a clinical laboratory software company. David utilizes this experience and legal acumen to advise C-suites and boards of directors (public and private) on legal, compliance, and operational issues.

David has extensive experience in a variety of U.S. and foreign compliance environments, including foreign direct investment, export control, data protection, privacy, and special security requirements. He has protected, licensed, and litigated intellectual property rights throughout the U.S., U.K., and Europe and regularly advises private and public companies on the creation, implementation, and execution of strategic plans for intellectual property. He has held U.S. secret clearance, essential for certain specialized government matters, including mitigation of Foreign Ownership Control and Influence (FOCI) and Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

David is a contributing author and frequent speaker for legal and business organizations, including the American Bar Association, American Intellectual Property Lawyers Association, Alabama State Bar, American Legal Media, Federal Bar Association, Federal Circuit Bar Association, and the University of Alabama School of Law.

Mr. David E. Brock currently serves as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Mentor-Protégé Program (MPP) Manager and Small Business Specialist (SBS) at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama. In his role as the NASA MPP Manager, he works closely with NASA large business prime contractors and small businesses to help forge relationships designed to grow the technical and business capabilities of small businesses under NASA approved Mentor-Protégé Agreements. As SBS, he provides strategic guidance and direction in the planning, coordination, and implementation of the NASA Small Business Program at MSFC.

Mr. Brock entered the Federal sector in December 1984, when he joined the NASA family as a Procurement Analyst assigned to the Office of Procurement. He has been actively involved in the NASA Small Business program for more than thirty-eight of his forty years of service. He was officially appointed to the position of SBS in January 2005 and was named Manager of NASA’s MPP in October 2019.

Mr. Brock is a native of Boaz, Alabama, was married to his wife Shirley for 46 years (deceased in October 2021), has one son, and three grandchildren. He graduated from Boaz High School in 1971, received a Certificate of Business from the Gadsden Business College in 1973, Associate Degree in Science from Snead State Community College in Boaz in 1980, and Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Alabama in Birmingham in 1983. He is an avid reader, and enjoys traveling, music, and sports.

Dr. Tim Morgan is the Microelectronics Commons Acting Technical Director for the Office of Undersecretary of Defense Research and Engineering. In this role, he oversees the technical execution of the program and works directly with the OUSD R&E Microelectronics Principal Director to ensure the acceleration of lab-to-fab microelectronics prototyping in 8 regional hubs across the United States in 6 critical technology areas: Electronic Warfare, Commercial Leap Ahead, AI Hardware, Quantum, 5G/6G and Secure Edge/Internet of Things. Additionally, the $2B program is part of the larger CHIPS and Science act and works interagency programs across Department of Commerce (DoC), Department of State (DoS), Department of Energy (DoE), Office of Strategic Capital (OSC), National Science Foundation (NSF), White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), etc to coordinate technical and workforce development initiatives.

In 2023, Dr. Morgan was recruited to serve as the Deputy Technical Director for Commons. He initiated the Gap Analysis, working with the Executive Level representatives across tri services to establish technical guidance for Commons. He led technical engagements across the Hub Roadshow. Prepared weekly activity reports to communicate important advancements.

Prior to joining the Commons team, Dr. Morgan worked as the Chief Scientist of Imaging Technology to advance Electro-optical component technology. He coordinated efforts across the Defense Industrial Base, Academia and DOD Labs, nationally and internationally. He mentored and recruited the next generation workforce, creating an atmosphere of curiosity and teaming. He developed strategy for EO/IR S&T, led many tri-service DARPA, ONR and other funded initiatives to advance TRL of EO/IR sensors. He worked many lab-to-fab projects.

In 2018, Dr. Morgan was sought out to join the Electro-optics Science and technology. He led multiple, diverse teams of scientists across the DOD, industry and academia to advance the TRL of imaging components. Sought out the best talent for the team and overcame challenges together. Developed relationships with sponsors and wrote proposals to win funding. He established multiple laboratories and new capabilities for existing projects and future workload. Actively helped mentor interns and students to develop future workforce. Recruited new personnel to NSWC Crane in and out of existing branch. Took corrective action when needed and helped develop plans to help mentees succeed.

Dr. Morgan has a Ph.D. in Microelectronics-photonics from University of Arkansas. He won several prestigious fellowships from NSF and other agencies. He holds several patents in microelectronics and electrooptics as well as many publications and talks.

Dr. Zhigang Xiao is a professor of the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at Alabama A&M University (AAMU). He received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati in 2004. His research interests include nanoscale electronic material and device fabrication, and microelectronics/VLSI circuit design. Since joining the EE faculty, Dr. Xiao has developed the AAMU-EE clean room with his colleagues and received multiple major instrument awards from DoD and NSF to build the clean room fabrication facility and has used the clean room facility to train hundreds of students in the micro and nanoscale semiconductor electronic device fabrication, who have become engineers in industries or government agencies. Dr. Xiao’s research and teaching have been sponsored by the federal funding agencies including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of Energy (DoE), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (DoA) and industries including Apple and Intel. Dr. Xiao published 50+ scientific papers and made 100+ presentations at national and international conferences. He is a member of AVS, IEEE, and MRS.

Rima Kasia Oueid is a Senior Commercialization Executive at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Technology Transitions, where she leads market development activities and commercialization of emerging DOE technologies with a focus on quantum technologies, transportation, grid modernization, and space-based applications. She builds public private partnerships, identifies use cases, and develops innovative business models to accelerate market adoption and bankability of quantum computing, quantum communications/security, quantum sensing, artificial intelligence, microgrids, and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technologies. Rima is the architect and lead of the DOE Quantum in Space Collaboration with DOD, NASA, and industry partners as well as the V2X Partnership with major OEMs, utilities, and bidirectional charging companies. She is also a DOE representative on the board of the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QEDC), serves as the chair of QEDCs Use Case Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) on Quantum Sensing, and a member of the Quantum Computing and Quantum Networking/Communications TACs.

Rima previously served in the Office of Policy and the Hurricane Sandy Task Force where she helped facilitate $15 billion in resilient energy infrastructure deployment initiatives. While with the EERE, Rima led a new $600 million energy finance portfolio for states and assisted DOD on a 3GW power purchase agreement initiative.

Rima began her career at Accenture helping Fortune 500 companies redesign their business models to leverage cutting edge technologies. Subsequent to Accenture, Rima spent six years in venture capital, and private equity investing and evaluating investments in residential and commercial real estate, solar, biofuels, solid state light manufacturing, and water purification industries. Rima earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with concentrations in Finance, Strategy, and Entrepreneurship and selected as a Kauffman Fellow. Rima also holds a Bachelors of Science from the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana.

Lyndsay Ferguson is the Vice President of Talent Initiatives for the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber. In her role, she leads efforts related to talent attraction, retention, training, and education to ensure that the Huntsville region has sufficient quantity and quality of talent to meet employer needs and support sustained growth.

Lyndsay’s professional career has been focused on human capital and talent development. Prior to returning to the Chamber in 2021, Lyndsay served as the Human Resource Manager for Mazda Toyota Manufacturing (MTM) during the joint venture automotive company’s initial plant start-up. She led company efforts related to human resources, team member services, external affairs, and corporate communications.

Lyndsay graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Richmond and a Masters in Business Administration from Clarkson University. She is a SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) and a certified Everything DiSC Workplace Facilitator. Lyndsay is passionate about developing human capital to benefit organizations and the greater community. Prior to joining the MTM team, she served as President/CEO of Leadership Greater Huntsville where she guided the organization in its mission to identify, educate, inspire and connect leaders to build a better community. Her human resource career includes senior leadership positions in the education, healthcare, and financial industries.

Lyndsay and her husband, Trip, live in Huntsville and are proud parents to three children. Outside of work, she can be found at a variety of sporting events cheering loudly for one of her two boys, trying to keep up with her 3-year-old daughter, or on a patio enjoying a glass of wine. Lyndsay was born and raised in Northern Virginia, but doesn’t miss the traffic and is proud to call Huntsville “home.”

Jared Ashcroft is a Chemistry professor at Pasadena City College and the Center Director for the Micro Nano Technology Education Center, actively involved in bringing MNT technical education programs to community colleges. He earned his BS in Chemistry from Long Beach State and Doctorate in Chemistry from Rice University. His doctorate work and subsequent studies at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab focused on nano-based medical diagnostics and therapeutics. His current focus is in developing undergraduate research experiences for community college students that focus on making them aware and better preparing them for entrance into the MNT workforce, such as semiconductor manufacturing.

Dr. Erin Gawron-Hyla is serving as the Microelectronics Commons Technical Execution Area Lead for Workforce Development. Her role includes guidance and oversight of Hub workforce development portfolios and metrics, as well as coordination of microelectronics workforce development efforts with other DoD programs and government agencies. Dr. Gawron-Hyla sits at DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory where she is a Research Chemist in the Electromagnetic Spectrum Sciences Division. Her background as a materials chemist led to supporting research efforts in materials development for microelectronics integration. Prior to her work at DEVCOM ARL, Dr. Gawron-Hyla taught high school chemistry and served as science department chair at Heritage High School in Conyers, GA.

Dr. Gawron-Hyla received her B.S. in Chemistry and Mathematics from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology as part of the first class of women, and her M.S. in Science Education from Purdue University. She also holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Georgia Tech and completed a Post Doctoral fellowship at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.