Co-sponsored event: Entrepreneurship in Optics & Photonics Q/A 2025
June 6 @ 10:30 am - 11:30 am
Join us to hear about photonics & optics breakthroughs that will shape the future
Registration link: https://events.zoom.us/ev/Atut0ku37Dw6KfDd209BnIQvLIQGoEpvtLOfWzHzqwYniGNfe5J3~AryxBlcnmF0lEpzonzvKgZ7ErVMcuyelSOnW5DDesDOsXa-ppeKH4XsZZA
Our invited speakers are distinguished technology and business leaders from cutting-edge companies and institutions. They are at the forefront of AR/VR innovation, leveraging photonics to build transformative products and solutions that will define industry trends for the next decade.
Milton Chang
Managing Partner, Incubic
Milton Chang, (Ph.D. 1969), is an entrepreneur and an angel investor who mentors entrepreneurs. He is the author of Toward Entrepreneurship (). Milton pivoted to tech entrepreneurship soon after graduating from Caltech. He was President and CEO of Newport Corporation and New Focus, taking both companies public. He has also successfully incubated more than a dozen startup companies. Recently he started Bonsai Heirloom, an e-commerce business.
Milton earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering with highest honors from the University of Illinois, and an M.S. and Ph.D. from Caltech. He also earned an executive MBA from Harvard. He was awarded Distinguished Alumni by both universities, and is a Trustee of Caltech. Milton has served on the Visiting Committee of NIST and also on an SEC advisory board.
In addition to incubating Bonsai Heirloom (), he is a board observer on PhotonPharma (), and advises several tech companies, including Coreshell Technologies ().
Katy Roodenko
Founder & CEO, Max-IR Labs
Dr. Katy Roodenko is the founder and CEO of Max-IR Labs, a company advancing mid-infrared sensing technologies for real-time chemical analysis in environmental and industrial applications. She leads efforts to commercialize analytical methods and instruments that enable data-driven automation, resource optimization, and improved energy efficiency.
Max-IR Labs’ sensor technologies are designed for fluid analysis, including the detection of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), inorganic carbon, and nitrogen compounds in bioreactors, water and wastewater.
With a background in physics and over 20 years of experience in infrared spectroscopy and materials science, she bridges the gap between fundamental research and real-world solutions. Before founding Max-IR Labs, she worked on industrial molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth of III-V semiconductors material structures for infrared devices. Presently, she is also active in standardization efforts, serving on ASTM Committee to help develop methods for fluid sampling and analysis in environmental applications. Dr. Roodenko holds multiple patents and has authored over 30 scientific publications.
Tristan Swedish
Cofounder & CTO, Ubicept
Tristan Swedish is a cofounder and CTO of Ubicept, which specializes in next generation perception through single photon imaging. For the past decade, Tristan has worked in emerging technology teams working on difficult real-time sensing problems in places such as Raytheon BBN Technologies, Facebook, and Skydio. Tristan received a PhD from the MIT Media Lab, where he developed computational imaging techniques to turn objects into cameras. His passion is to improve the robustness of machine perception for better safety and autonomy for all.