Materials to Systems: Boosting MEMS Innovation for National Security

Dana Weinstein
Professor
Elmore Family School of Electrical & Computer Engineering
Purdue University

The strategic advantage of the United States increasingly depends on the pace at which we can conceive, prototype, validate, and transition advanced microelectronics into fielded defense systems. From resilient edge computing and secure communications to ultrafast imaging and precision navigation, next-generation capabilities demand breakthroughs across materials, devices, architectures, and manufacturing. Traditional R&D cycles typically take years from conception to deployment, but the rapidly changing landscape of warfare necessitates innovation and transition on the order of months.

Rising above the noise, we are quickly realigning ourselves to the wave of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) capabilities impacting all sectors of society. AI/ML present a unique opportunity to redefine the innovation engine for defense microelectronics, accelerating materials exploration, optimizing devices, guiding system-level design, and transforming labs with autonomous experimentation. Allowing design, innovation, and transition across a more complex and wider parameter space, AI/ML enables holistic co-design including performance, robustness, manufacturability, and supply chain resilience.

This talk centers on emerging opportunities for accelerating defense innovation. I will focus on the specific case of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), which underpin navigation, timing, and RF and mm-wave wireless communication, and are emerging in imaging and medical diagnostics and therapeutics. Materials-device co-design in particular can push the limits of MEMS performance with long-term stability deployed in harsh environments, power-constrained applications, and under adversarial conditions.

Dana Weinstein is a professor in Purdue’s Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and co-chair of the Defense Innovation Purdue Engineering Initiative. Prior to joining Purdue in 2015, Dr. Weinstein was a Professor at MIT in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. She received her B.A. in Physics and Astrophysics from UC Berkeley in 2004 and her Ph.D. in Applied Physics in 2009 from Cornell. She is a Purdue Faculty Scholar, and a recipient of IEEE UFFC Sawyer Award, the NSF CAREER Award, the DARPA Young Faculty Award, the first Intel Early Career Award, the first TRF Transducers Early Career Award, and the IEEE IEDM Haken Award. Dr. Weinstein’s research focuses on innovative microelectromechanical devices for applications ranging from MEMS-IC wireless communications and clocking to harsh environment sensors and ultrasonic stimulation. She has served as Associate Director for Purdue's Birck Nanotechnology Center, as Associate Dean in the College of Engineering at Purdue, and most recently as Principal Assistant Director and Special Advisor for Microelectronics Research and Development at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in DC. In that role, she also championed accelerating materials innovation through autonomous experimentation.

Metrology for Biology: Opportunities for Photonic and Microelectronic Integrated Circuits in Regenerative Medicine and Beyond

Dr. Kyle Preston
Director of Chips and Sensors
SiPhox Health

Regenerative medicine holds remarkable promise for applications such as restoring muscle and nerve function after traumatic injury, repairing heart tissue after a heart attack, and restoring lost neurological function in conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and spinal cord injury. At its core, this approach seeks to direct cells to grow, differentiate, and assemble into functional biological systems. While the biological mechanisms are increasingly well understood and applications are entering clinical trials, a dominant challenge in translating these therapies to scale is establishing an engineering and manufacturing mindset grounded in quantitative measurement: proteins, metabolites, and signaling molecules must be detected and controlled in environments containing complex and variable background. Achieving reliable outcomes requires suppressing non-specific signals, resolving small concentration changes over time, and integrating measurement directly into long, multi-stage manufacturing processes such as stem cell differentiation.

This talk provides an overview of the current state of the art in regenerative medicine and its measurement challenges. It then examines how photonic and microelectronic integrated circuits can combine light‑concentrating photonic resonator sensors, engineered surface functionalization, and instrumentation derived from optical transceivers to enable sensitive biomolecular measurements that extract weak biological signals above the noise of the biological system. We discuss how these capabilities support monitoring and feedback in regenerative medicine, and how the same measurement technologies extend naturally to distributed biomanufacturing and emerging consumer health diagnostics for precision medicine. 

Kyle Preston is director of chips and sensors at SiPhox Health, a Boston startup developing biosensing technology to tackle the chronic disease epidemic. He leads core technology development including design, manufacturing, signal processing, and system integration for photonic integrated circuits. He is also PI on BIO INSPECT, a government-directed project through AIM Photonics applying biosensing to regenerative medicine. Previously he was a group lead at Quantum-Si, Inc., developing massively parallel single-molecule fluorescence detection on a chip, which enabled the first commercial product for single-molecule protein sequencing. Prior to that he developed optical coherence tomography on a chip at Tornado Spectral Systems for medical and industrial imaging. Dr. Preston obtained his BS, MS, and PhD degrees from Cornell University in electrical and computer engineering, where he developed silicon photonics devices for data communication and was a recipient of the IBM PhD Fellowship. He is a Senior Member of Optica.

Microelectronics Foreign Threat Briefing

Adam Hauch
Global Deterrence & Defense Department
Crane Divison, Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC Crane)

This briefing provides a high-level overview of foreign intelligence threats targeting the U.S. semiconductor industry. It highlights the strategic importance of advanced microelectronics to national security, economic competitiveness, and critical infrastructure. The discussion outlines common threat vectors, including illicit technology acquisition, supply chain exploitation, insider recruitment, and cyber-enabled espionage. The briefing concludes with a summary of risk considerations and the importance of coordinated public–private mitigation efforts.

Mr. Adam Hauch serves at Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division and is assigned as a liaison officer to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, where he leads the IRON GROVE initiative. In this role, he coordinates collaboration between the Joint Federated Assurance Center (JFAC) hardware assurance community and counterintelligence and law enforcement partners. He also serves as the technical lead for the Microelectronics Security and Counterintelligence Support effort within the Trusted and Assured Microelectronics program. Mr. Hauch has held this position since 2018. Prior to joining NSWC Crane, he served more than a decade as a counterintelligence analyst within the Department of Defense, with over 25 years of experience across the broader Intelligence Community.

Quantum Technology: Overcoming Technical, Market, and Policy Challenges

Dr. John Burke
Chief Product Officer
Beacon Photonics

Quantum technology is frequently promoted as a transformative solution for assured navigation and timing, counter-stealth sensing of advanced air and sub-surface platforms, a cure for cancer, and even world hunger. This talk examines whether such claims are probable — or possible — and, if so, under what technical and societal conditions they might emerge. Many of these conditions hinge on substantial advances in microsystems engineering, particularly integrated photonics. Beyond technology challenges, government policy and market forces will play a decisive role in determining who benefits, when, and on what scale. This talk surveys the most significant application concepts, along with the key limitations and risks, of this emerging technology area.

Dr. John Burke is the chief product officer at Beacon Photonics, a technology start-up company developing integrated photonics and optical micro-systems for several dual-use markets. Prior to this, Dr. Burke was the principal director of quantum science for the DoD, for which he was awarded the Office of Secretary of Defense Metal for Exceptional Public Service. Previously, Dr. Burke was a program manager at DARPA after leading a research laboratory for Air Force Research Lab, developing optical atomic clocks, quantum technology, and photonic systems. He received his PhD from the University of Virginia in atomic physics.

BACK TO THE FUTURE: How Silicon Valley Leveraged the Pentagon and Why the Pentagon Now Needs to Leverage Silicon Valley

James S. B. Chew
Vice President and General Manager
Intel Government Technologies

In an era where national security depends on technological superiority, the Pentagon faces critical structural, political, and legacy defense industrial base business practice barriers that threaten America’s competitive edge. Using examples, direct quotes and materials from government sources, this keynote exposes the urgent need for reform while demonstrating how leading commercial organizations consistently outperform traditional defense contractors through superior practices and innovation. The presentation features compelling case studies including Intel’s groundbreaking 18A technology and breakthrough commercial successes like Panther Lake and Ponte Vecchio, showcasing capabilities that the legacy defense suppliers, the DoW Warfare Centers, The Federally Funded Research and Development Centers, and the various science and engineering technical assistance companies refuse to learn, and hence simply cannot match.

This session concludes with an urgent call to arms, challenging industry leaders, policymakers, and defense stakeholders to embrace fundamental change in how America approaches defense technology development. Attendees will leave with a clear understanding of the defense procurement crisis, concrete examples of commercial technological superiority, and a roadmap for transforming the defense industrial base to secure America’s future.

James S. B. Chew is a nationally recognized leader in defense systems engineering, digital transformation, and government–industry technology integration. At Intel Government Technologies, he serves as vice president and general manager, leading Intel’s federal business in support of U.S. Government and Department of Defense missions. In this role, he aligns Intel’s strategy and execution with national security priorities, strengthens senior-level government partnerships, and ensures delivery of trusted, mission-ready capabilities across the defense and intelligence enterprise. With more than four decades of experience spanning government, aerospace, defense, automotive, and advanced technology sectors, Mr. Chew is widely known as a catalyst for complex, mission-critical transformation. He brings deep expertise in applying commercial innovation at scale to improve affordability, schedule performance, and mission outcomes for national security systems. Chew has authored more than 200 publications and presentations for both DoD and commercial forums and publications.

Mix and mingle with fellow attendees among palm trees and umbrellas at Sydney’s Grill at the San Diego Zoo. Enjoy dinner and explore Urban Jungle, home to the largest colony of koalas outside of Australia, and discover giraffes, rhinos, and more nearby.