PhD in Photonics (Attoscience: Ultrafast & non-linear optics) at ICFO in Barcelona (Spain)
MSc in Optics & Photonics at Imperial College, London (UK)
B.Sc + MSc in Physics at University of Barcelona (Spain)
CEO and Co-founded MEETOPTICS – to make photonics accessible and easy to understand for everyone.

Cibby Pulikkaseril is the Co-founder and CTO of Baraja. His background in developing optical sensing technology stems from his R&D role at Finisar Australia where he led technical teams to investigate new technologies, leading to the commercialization of instrumentation used by industrial and academic research laboratories. Cibby brings more than 20 years of experience in optics and photonics, from developing electrooptic and waveguide devices to modelling noise behaviour of microwave photonic systems.

Peter Winzer studied electrical engineering at TU Vienna, Austria. At Bell Labs he contributed to high-speed fiber-optic communications R&D for almost 20 years. In 2020 he founded the VC-backed start-up Nubis Communications. He has widely published and patented, received several awards and fellowships, and is actively involved with the IEEE.

Erik Swenson is a seasoned professional with 14 years in the Solid State Lighting industry. As General Manager for Nichia America Corporation, Erik has helped lead the adoption of Nichia LEDs throughout various markets including General Illumination, UV, Video Display and more. Erik has been an active voice of Nichia within the SSL market, having spoken at several industry and manufacturer’s conferences and trade shows. After receiving a degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University, Erik practiced various engineering facets within the Automotive Industry for 6 years prior to joining Nichia in a commercial role.

David Harame received the PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. David joined IBM where he worked on SiGe BiCMOS technology. He is widely credited with taking SiGe BiCMOS from research and development into a production technology. In 2005 he was awarded the IEEE Daniel E Noble Award “For the development of manufacturable Silicon Germanium, HBT Bipolar and BiCMOS technologies. In 2009 he was awarded the IEEE BCTM award. AT IBM David held many positions in process development and electronic photonic design automation. David was the CTO for the 200mm Specialty Foundry in Burlington Vermont and an IBM Fellow. In 2014 David joined GLOBALFOUNDRIES (GF) as the CTO for RF technologies and a GF Fellow. At GF david worked on RF CMOS, SOI switches, and RF 22nm FDSOI technology. In 2018 David joined SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY) in Albany New York. David is the Director of EPDA, Test & Packaging, and Process Development for SUNY and Chief Operating Officer (COO) for AIM Photonics. He is an IEEE Fellow.

Tiberiu Grigoriu, Senior Director Strategy and Technology IP and Optical Networks, is responsible for driving Nokia transport strategy for critical networks. Tibi has played a leading role in defining the company’s mobile core virtualization activity and the evolution of mobile transport architecture. He has over 20 years professional experience bringing together strategic thinking and operational hands-on product delivery. Tibi was awarded Nokia Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff and holds a Master of Applied Science from Concordia University, an Executive MBA from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Ottawa University.

Emine Ҫağın worked as an Electrical Engineer (BSc) in industry for Shipley and Analog Devices starting her research career in nano and microfabrication. She holds a PhD in Solid State Electronics from the University of Michigan. She was a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at ETH Zurich, and then a Senior Staff Scientist at NTB Buchs, focusing on micro and nanotechnology development projects for companies. In 2018, she joined Heidelberg Instruments Nano as a Principal Applications Engineer, where she is currently the Head of Technology. In this role, she leads product development and further optimizations of the NanoFrazor technology.

After graduating in Art and Design in 2003 I realized I was not an artist nor a designer. so, I subscribed at a recruitment agency, and they asked me for temporary support. This temporary job became my destiny and until today I’m involved in recruitment. During the years I moved from commercial, KPI driven recruitment via agencies to qualitative corporate high-tech recruitment. From multinational chip machine manufactory ASML, were I managed a team of 15 recruiters and 5 assistants, to a scale-up in Photonics. Since August 2020, I proudly represent SMART Photonics as senior recruitment specialist.

Odile Liboiron-Ladouceur received the B.Eng. degree in electrical engineering from McGill University, Montreal, Canada, in 1999, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Columbia University, New York, USA, in 2003 and 2007, respectively. From 1999 to 2000, she worked at Teradyne Inc. in Boston in the mass storage business unit. She then joined Texas Instruments Inc. in 2000 in Dallas, and spent two years working in the fiber optic business unit as a test and design engineer. She joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at McGill University in 2008 after a year as an NSERC postdoctoral fellow (2007–2008). She is currently an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Photonics Interconnect. She holds seven granted U.S. patents and co-authored over 80 peer-reviewed journal papers and more than 120 papers in conference proceedings. She published four book chapters and gave over 20 presentations as an invited speaker at international conferences. She is the 2018 recipient of McGill Principal’s Prize for Outstanding Emerging Researcher.

Steve Alexander is currently Ciena’s Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. He has held a number of positions since joining the Company in 1994, including General Manager of Ciena’s Transport & Switching and Data Networking business units, Vice President of Transport Products and Director of Lightwave Systems. From 1982 until joining Ciena, he was employed at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, where he last held the position of Assistant Leader of the Optical Communications Technology Group. He is an IEEE Fellow and is a recipient of the IEEE Communications Society Industrial Innovation Award. Mr. Alexander received both his B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Dr. Madison Rilling is Director of Talent & Outreach at Optonique, Québec’s cluster for excellence in optics & photonics. In her role, she works with industrial, academic, and governmental actors to address talent and workforce challenges as well as to identify business development and R&D opportunities for Québec-based photonics companies. She holds a Master’s in Medical Physics and a PhD in Physics from Université Laval (Québec, QC).

Philippe Babin , CEO of AEPONYX, has over 25 years of experience in product and market development in the telecommunication field. He co-founded AEPONYX Inc and leads the company. With his team, he develops and brings to market photonic integrated circuits and products for a broad range of applications. Philippe holds both an Electric Engineering degree and an MBA from the University of Sherbrooke.