Current Position

LUMINAR TECHNOLOGIES
Advanced optical sensing for the vehicle safety & autonomous mobility industries, Orlando, FL
Senior Director of Product                 (2021 - present)

• Understand automotive sensing demand, use case, and product landscape
• Set product strategy and roadmap by guiding internal engineering requirements and assessing solution appropriateness
• Support business development in customer pain point discovery and value proposition development
• Serve on mergers and acquisitions council to identify and assess business and product growth opportunities

Director of Technology Strategy       (2015 - 2020)

• Maintain technology and product development roadmap
• Scouted for and built relationships in technologies areas key to company roadmap
• Facilitate execution of cross-organizational strategic technology and production objectives
• Maintain Autonomous Mobility market and competitive landscape for executive consumption

OPEN PHOTONICS, INC
Product design and development through Open Innovation, Orlando, FL
Director of Research & Development        (2013 - 2015)

• Scouted for and built relationships in technologies in the areas of optical meta-materials, anti-reflection fibers, multi-spectral imaging, and thermal infrared sensing technology
• Analyzed markets and competitive landscapes for portable spectroscopy, spectral imaging, super-continuum laser source, and spectrally selective LED light sources
• Identified available technologies from academia and small-businesses with commercial potential for client corporation needs
• Created technology focused business development and marketing materials

AEROSONIX, INC
Medical drug delivery through compact nebulization, Orlando, FL
Director of Research & Development       (2013 - 2015)

• Lead cross-functional team – engineering, supply chain, production – toward volume-ready prototype
• Developed and executed failure mode effects analyses and engineering of existing product offerings in the personal medical device industry

Current Committee & Board Appointments


NATIONAL PHOTONICS INITIATIVE
Strategic Steering Committee
Member        (2012 - present)

• Authored the NPI's response to OSTP's 2014 Strategy on American Innovation request for information
• Set strategy for a National Photonics Initiative to unify American efforts in research, technology development, and training
• Advised a joint international professional society communications team on the dissemination of the National Academy of Science’s report, Optics and Photonics: Essential Technologies for Our Nation

Taskforce on Education & Workforce Development
Chair        (2014 - 2018)

• Assembled geographically representative taskforce made up of educators, academic leadership, industrial leadership, and development organizations to develop federal policy recommendations

CREOL, the College of Optics & Photonics - UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA
Advisory Board
Member        (2019 - present)

• Advise college in achieving the program’s mission and goals and to assist in being recognized national and internationally for excellence in photonics

FLORIDA PHOTONICS CLUSTER
Board of Directors
Member        (2018 - present)

• Advise technical industry cluster with regard to local and international network building, regional and national advocacy initiatives, and local educational initiatives.

OSA, THE OPTICAL SOCIETY
Public Policy Committee
Chair        (2012 - 2018)

• Guide the political advocacy effort of the international optics community on behalf of the Optical Society's 17,000+ members
• Established relationships with House and Senate offices from FL, OR, MO, and VA to relay the importance of federal research investment and support of commercialization efforts
• Generated policy statements for immigration, natural resource management, and journal open access

NAS Report Dissemination Advisory Committee
Member        (2012-present)

• Advised a joint international professional society communications team on the dissemination of the National Academy of Science’s report, Optics and Photonics: Essential Technologies for Our Nation
• Establishing a National Photonics Initiative to unify US efforts in research, development, and education

BIONUTRIENT FOOD ASSOCIATION
Technical Advisory Board
Member        (2015 - 2016)


Education

UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA
CREOL, The College of Optics & Photonics - Orlando, FL
Aug. 2013         PhD      Optics
Dec. 2009        MS        Optics

RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
School of Science, Physics - Troy, NY
May 2007         BS        Physics, with minor in Management & Technology


Academic Research

UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA
CREOL, The College of Optics & Photonics - Orlando, FL
Graduate Research Assistant to Winston V. Schoenfeld PhD, Nanophotonic Device Group        (2007 - present)

• Conduct ongoing collaborative research with a focus on integrated photonic devices for applications in quantum information science, laser sources, and optical circuitry through design, simulation, fabrication, and test.
• Experienced in the design and simulation of passive photonic devices including the use of finite-difference time-domain (FDTD), Plane Wave Expansion (PWE), coupled mode theory, and ad hoc programing in MatLab.
• Experienced in the fabrication of micro- and nano-scale structures in Si and GaAs material systems though UV and E-beam lithography processes, wet and dry etching, thermal and E-beam metal deposition, rapid and gradual thermal annealing, and imaging using optical, electron, and atomic force microscopy.

RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE        (2006 - 2007)
Department of Physics - Troy, NY
Undergraduate Research Assistant to Peter Persans, PhD

• Characterized both commercial (Daystar Technologies) and experimental thin film Cu(In, Ga)Se photovoltaic cells by means of electro- and photo-reflectance modulation and photo-luminescence
• Completed coursework of a standard physics curriculum with a focus in solid state materials and optics.  Supplemented program with extensive coursework in business, finance, and management.

Lally School of Management & Technology - Troy, NY

• Completed 32 credit hours of coursework in management, economics, finance, and marketing including case study analysis.

Past Industrial Experience:

UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA        (2009)
Technology Transfer Office, UCF - Orlando, FL
Technical Writer

• Summarized US Patent documentation of 46 UCF owned technologies into one-page briefs for license marketing purposes (examples available upon request)
• Analyzed a 9-piece intellectual property portfolio and developed a report targeting viable markets for licensing negotiation

KOLLMORGEN ELECTRO-OPTICAL        (2006)
Photonic Masts - Northampton, MA
Systems Engineer Co-Op

• Developed quantitative, image-resolution benchmarks across business units for naval periscopes.

Service & Leadership

OSA, the Optical Society at UCF        (2010 - 2012)
Student Chapter President

• Wrote and won $10k in grants to fund educational outreach and professional development activities
• Developed and led Optics Educators’ Day to better prepare local K-8 teachers in the presentation of optics and physics in their curriculum.  Attendees represented 10 Orange County, FL schools
• Built partnerships in local education community and led 34 outreach events reaching over 2100 students, teachers and parents, in more than 15 schools around Florida

Awards & Honors:

• Integrative Graduate Education & Research Traineeship Program (IGERT) fellowship recipient        (2007 - 2009)
• Phalanx Society Inductee & President (RPI) – Recognition of leadership roles in Residence Life, community service, athletics, and campus events        (2006)

Publications:

Journal Publications

• M.D. Weed, C.G. Williams, J.D. Ryckman, S.M. Weiss, P.J. Delfyett, W.V. Schoenfeld, Resonance uniformity of coupled-resonator optical waveguides, Optics Letters - submitted (April 2013)
• M.D. Weed, C.G. Williams, P.J. Delfyett, W.V. Schoenfeld, Symmetry Considerations for Closed Loop Photonic Crystal Coupled Resonators, Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol.31, no.9 (2013)
• H.P. Seigneur, M.D. Weed, M.N. Leuenberger, and W.V. Schoenfeld, Controlled On-Chip Single-Photon Transfer Using Photonic Crystal Coupled-Cavity Waveguides, (Invited Paper) Advances in OptoElectronics (2011)

Conference Proceedings

• M.D. Weed, C. Williams, P.J. Delfyett, W.V.Schoenfeld, Feedback in coupled-resonance optical waveguides, CLEO 2012, Proc. OSA (2012)
• M.D. Weed, H.P. Seigneur, and W.V. Schoenfeld, Cladding index engineering of the photonic properties of single-mode photonic crystal devices, Optics & Photonics 2010, Proc. SPIE, Vol. 7764, 776403 (2010)
• M.D. Weed, H.P. Seigneur, M.N. Leuenberger, and W.V. Schoenfeld, Optimization of complete band gaps for photonic crystal slabs through use of symmetry breaking hole shapes, Photonics West 2009, Proc. SPIE, Vol 7223, pp. 72230Q-72230Q-9 (2009)

Other Presentations

• M.D. Weed, From Smart Phones to Smart Agriculture, (Invited Talk) Lonestar Community College (2014)
• M.D. Weed, Contemporary Science: Insights into the modern scientific establishment, (Invited Talk) McMinnville Rotary (2012)
• H.P. Seigneur, M.D. Weed, G. Gonzales, and M.N. Leuenberger, and W.V. Schoenfeld, The Physics and Challenges of Realizing Quantum Teleportation Using Quantum Dots Within a Quantum Network, (Invited Talk) NanoFlorida (2009)
• H.P. Seigneur, M.D. Weed, M.N. Leuenberger, and W.V. Schoenfeld, Self-assembled quantum dots within photonic crystal nanocavities for the realization quantum networks, (Invited Talk) Particles (2008)