Dr. Aaron Franklin is the CTO at Tyrata and the Addy Professor in the Departments of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Chemistry at Duke University. After spending six years on the research staff at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY, he joined the faculty at Duke in 2014. At Duke, Dr. Franklin leads a research group focused on developing new electronic devices and sensors from nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes and graphene, using nanofabrication and low-cost printing approaches. Tyrata’s IntelliTread™ technology began as a research project in Dr. Franklin’s lab at Duke and was translated into the successful startup company in 2018 with a team of experienced entrepreneurs. Dr. Franklin received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University in 2008 and his bachelor’s degree, also in Electrical Engineering, from Arizona State University in 2004. He is a prolific scientific contributor and inventor, with more than 90 publications and 50 issued patents.
Dr. von Windheim is a Professor of the Practice at Duke University and a technology entrepreneur who is focused on commercializing early-stage innovations in the physical sciences. He has played a key role in a number of manufacturing companies based on new materials, processes and functionality. He helped form Unitive Electronics, which was later acquired by Amkor and remains a leader in its field. He was a co-founder of Cronos Integrated Microsystems, a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) company. Cronos was acquired by JDS Uniphase for $750M—a story that was published by Springer Nature as “The Startup.”. At JDSU Dr. von Windheim was VP and General manager of the MEMS division. Dr. von Windheim was also founder and CEO of Nextreme Thermal Solutions. He founded Nextreme in 2004 with technology acquired from RTI International and licensed from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Nextreme was acquired by Laird Technologies in 2012.
Dr. von Windheim holds bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and physics (McMaster University, Canada), a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in chemistry (University of Guelph, Canada), and an MBA from the Kenan-Flagler business school. Dr. von Windheim holds 8 patents and has numerous publications in the fields of solar cell research and diamond thin film materials.
David is a start-up company and early-stage product development executive with over 28 years’ experience in maturing and commercializing nascent technologies, engineering management, new business development, and technical sales. Prior to joining Tyrata, he was VP of Business Operations for Zenalux Biomedical, developing novel spectroscopy techniques for cancer detection. He was a co-founder of Nextreme Thermal Solutions, were he developed thin-film thermoelectric technology. Nextreme was sold to Laird in 2013 where he served as VP of Technology for the Engineered Thermal Systems business unit. Prior to Nextreme he was a principle and founding member of the technical staff at Cronos Integrated Microsystems where he developed MEMS products for optical switching and attenuation. Cronos was sold to JDS Uniphase in 2000.
David holds 11 patents and has authored or co-authored over 20 technical articles and peer-reviewed publications. He has an M.S. in Materials Science from North Carolina State University and a B.S. in Ceramic Engineering from Iowa State University.
Stephen has more than 35 years of direct experience in starting up and sustaining manufacturing operations for new technologies and products made here in North Carolina. He has an extensive background in the design, construction and operation of ISO and TL certified production facilities for VLSI wafer fabrication, MEMS fabrication, IC assembly, SMT assembly, flip-chip packaging, IVD medical device and micro-scale thermoelectrics.
Formerly, as vice president of operations, Stephen managed the construction and start-up of a microfluidics production facility for Advanced Liquid Logic in 2010 which was acquired by Illumina Inc in 2013 for $100M. Prior to joining the ALL venture, Stephen was director of operations at Nextreme Thermal Solutions where he set up the manufacturing facility there in 2008 (later acquired by Laird). Stephen was with Unitive Electronics for 4 years (later acquired by Amkor Technology) where he was responsible for starting up its chip scale packaging line. The team at Unitive took production from zero to 1M units-per-day within one year of construction. Prior to Amkor, Stephen served as director of operations for Cronos Integrated Microsystems (acquired by JDS Uniphase Corporation in 2000) where he was responsible for constructing a new $60M wafer fabrication facility for the production of MEMS photonic devices used in the telecom industry. Stephen began his career at Mitsubishi Semiconductor America in Durham where he held multiple management positions in DRAM manufacturing and business operations in both North Carolina and Japan. Collectively, Stephen has managed the startup of over 8 different operations in his career which have ultimately exited with a combined value of almost $1B.
Luka has more than 27 years of experience delivering business results for global technology companies. Before joining Tyrata, Luka served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing at private-equity-owned Bristol Compressors, where he was responsible for a $140 million P&L. Luka led the development of Ingersoll Rand’s Air Treatment (AT) portfolio and integration of three acquired companies into Ingersoll Rand’s Industrial Compressed Air portfolio. Luka also held senior strategic marketing positions at Cree, Inc., and Scott Safety, Tyco. As Director of Strategic Marketing at Scott Safety, Luka oversaw new product development, marketing, pricing, sales, and branding that led to doubling of the business and eventual acquisition of Scott Safety by 3M for $2B. For over ten years Luka also served at IBM Corporation in various marketing, business, and branding management roles. Luka holds a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Electrical Engineering from NC State University and an MBA from Duke University.
Tyrata’s tread wear sensing technology was invented in Dr. Franklin’s lab at Duke University through the study of printed carbon nanotube (CNT) electronics and he is now CTO of Tyrata. At Duke, Dr. Franklin is the Addy Professor in the Departments of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Chemistry. After spending six years on the research staff at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY, he joined the faculty at Duke in 2014. Dr. Franklin received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University in 2008 and his bachelor’s degree, also in Electrical Engineering, from Arizona State University in 2004. He is a prolific scientific contributor and inventor, with more than 90 publications and holding 50 issued patents.
Dr. Cummer, an expert in the area of wave interactions with complex materials and environments, received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1997. Prior to joining Duke University in 1999, he spent two years at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as an NRC postdoctoral research associate. Awards he has received include a National Science Foundation CAREER award and a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2001. His current work is in a variety of theoretical and experimental electromagnetic problems related to geophysical remote sensing and engineered electromagnetic materials.
Leslie M. Collins earned the BSEE degree from the University of Kentucky, and the MSEE, and PhD degrees from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. From 1986 through 1990 she was a Senior Engineer at Westinghouse Research and Development Center in Pittsburgh, PA. She joined Duke in 1995 as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2002 and to Professor in 2007. Her research interests include physics-based statistical signal processing, subsurface sensing, auditory prostheses and pattern recognition. She is a member of the Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, and Eta Kappa Nu honor societies. Dr. Collins has been a member of the team formed to transition MURI-developed algorithms and hardware to the Army HSTAMIDS and GSTAMIDS landmine detection systems. She has been the principal investigator on research projects from ARO, NVESD, SERDP, ESTCP, NSF, and NIH. Dr. Collins was the PI on the DoD UXO Cleanup Project of the Year in 2000. As of 2015, Dr. Collins has graduated 15 PhD students.
Miroslav Pajic's research focuses on design and analysis of cyber-physical systems and in particular, embedded and distributed/networked control, real-time and embedded systems, and high-confidence medical device systems.
