Sandra Biedron (Element Aero and Center for Bright Beams) - Moderator
Dr. Sandra Biedron is engaged with the development of both workforce and technology development in many capacities, from technical director to management, to educator as a professor. Currently, she is serving as Knowledge Transfer Director of the NSF STC Cornell Center for Bright Beams and Managing Partner of Element Aero - an R&D and consulting company that she founded in 2002.
Her technical works include being a technical and management consultant for the FERMI free-electron laser project at Sincrotrone Trieste, Deputy Lead Engineer for integration of an Innovative Naval Prototype for Boeing, serving in leadership positions for several DoE-led DoE/DoD/NSF Basic Research Needs Reports, as well as chairing or participating in several international conferences and committees, including a NATO workgroup for sensors and electronics, the IEEE USA AI and Autonomous Systems Policy Committee, the IEEE USA R&D Policy Committee, and the Program Advisory Committee for the Brookhaven Accelerator Test Facility (ATF). Her interests are many and include particle accelerator systems; laser systems; the use of artificial intelligence in controls, modeling, and prediction of complex systems; quantum devices, sensors and detectors; and applications of these technologies in science, security, and defense.
She is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the SPIE, a Senior Member of Optica and the IEEE, and a member of the Italian Optical Society and the Directed Energy Professional Society. She has received a letter of commendation by the Chief of Naval Research and the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Society’s Particle Accelerator Science and Technology Award. In 2024, she was appointed to the National Photonics Initiative’s Steering Committee for a one-year term. She is a trustee of the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History, the U.S.'s only congressionally-chartered museum established in 1969 and designated a Smithsonian Affiliate. She also serves on the global Nuclear Science Week planning committee. Her company is an active member with SEMI (semi.org). Currently, she is driving activities for next generation light sources for industrial and national security applications, sustainability and power initiatives, namely infrastructure for nuclear power and sustainability in semiconductors and their applications.
Finally, she curates several historical items once belonging to Enrico Fermi, including the steamer trunk and other family possessions brought from Europe by the family in 1938 when emigrating after Fermi received the Nobel Prize to flee fascist Italy.
Harry Levinson (HJL Lithography) - Viewpoint from the Semiconductor Industry
Harry J. Levinson is currently an independent lithography consultant and Principal Lithographer at HJL Lithography. He has spent most of his career working in the field of lithography, starting at AMD. He also held positions at Sierra Semiconductor and IBM before returning to AMD in 1994. When wafer operations were spun off from AMD he moved to GLOBALFOUNDRIES and worked there until mid-2018. During the course of his career, Dr. Levinson has applied lithography to many different technologies, including bipolar memories, 64-Mb and 256-Mb DRAM development, the manufacturing of application-specific integrated circuits, thin-film heads for magnetic recording, flash memories and advanced logic. He was one of the first users of 5´ steppers in Silicon Valley and was an early participant in 248-nm, 193-nm and EUV lithography.
Dr. Levinson served for several years as the chairman of the USA Lithography Technology Working Group that participated in the generation of the lithography chapter of the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors. He has published numerous articles on lithographic science, on topics ranging from thin-film optical effects and metrics for imaging, to overlay and process control, and he is the author of three books: Lithography Process Control, Principles of Lithography (now in 4th edtion), and Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (the 2nd edition was recently published). He holds over 70 US patents. Dr. Levinson is an SPIE Fellow, previously chaired the SPIE Publications Committee, and served on SPIE’s Board of Directors. In recognition of his contributions to SPIE, he received the Society’s 2014 Directors’ Award. He is also the 2022 recipient of the Frits Zernike Award in Microlithography. Levinson is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Micro/Nanopatterning, Materials and Metrology (JM3).
He has a BS in engineering from Cornell University and a PhD in physics from the University of Pennsylvania. His Ph.D. thesis, titled “Resonances and Collective Effects in Photoemission,” addressed certain phenomena involving the interactions of light and matter. For this work he received the Wayne B. Nottingham Prize in surface science.
Alex Murokh (Radiabeam) - Electron guns and compact sources
Dr. Alex Murokh is an accelerator physicist and cofounder of RadiaBeam. He received his Ph.D. at UCLA in 2002 for his work on the VISA Free Electron Laser. As a postdoc at UCLA, and later as a RadiaBeam research scientist, he worked on the coherent radiation processes, beam diagnostic techniques, and advanced acceleration methods. Dr. Murokh previously led RadiaBeam’s R&D division for over a decade prior to becoming CEO in 2023. He continues serving as the Principal Investigator on multiple high impact projects, including the development of a compact Inverse Compton Scattering light source at RadiaBeam as well as on a high efficiency Free Electron Laser program.
Stephen Milton (Tau Systems) - Commercialized Laser Driven FELs and FEL quality e-beams for Defense and Industry
Scientist/Engineer/Manager/Leader with over 45 years of experience in the broad areas of high-energy particle accelerators of all kinds including plasma-based systems, high-powered pulsed laser systems, and free-electron lasers, as well as the applications and uses of these high-technology systems and devices. Currently leading up the laser wakefield accelerator, electron beam transport, free-electron laser, and end station systems designs, development, and construction.
Stephen Milton has over 45 years of experience in the broad areas of high-energy particle accelerators, both rf and laser powered, high-powered pulsed laser systems, free-electron lasers, as well as the applications and uses of these high-technology systems and devices. Currently he is the Vice President of Accelerator Science at TAU Systems inc. a young company developing laser-powered accelerators for commercial applications.
Raffaella Geometrante - State of the world in undulator magnets
Raffaella Geometrante is Managing Director of Kyma and an industrial leader in insertion devices and permanent-magnet technologies for particle accelerators. Her career spans the full lifecycle of accelerator technology — from materials science and the installation of the FERMI free-electron laser to the industrialization, manufacturing and international deployment of advanced undulator systems. She works at the interface between research infrastructures and industry, with a particular focus on turning advanced accelerator technologies into reliable and scalable products. She is also active in European initiatives developing new models for co-innovation between research infrastructures and high-tech industry.
Travis Patton
Travis Patton is a senior technology banker at JPMorgan with 16 years of experience across corporate finance, asset management, and commercial banking. He began his career with the firm in Chicago in Corporate Derivatives, where he helped corporate clients manage financial market risks through tailored derivative strategies.
Travis later joined J.P. Morgan Asset Management in Denver as an Investment Specialist, managing global asset allocations for single-family offices across the Rocky Mountain region. He subsequently moved into JPMorgan’s Innovation Economy group, where he now manages strategic relationships with venture-backed, growth-stage companies focused on compute infrastructure, the autonomy tech stack, and aerospace & defense.
Travis holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Arizona, is a CFA charterholder, and board member for the Patsy Reeve Foundation supporting youth with Spina Bifida. He lives in the East Bay with his wife and two children.