Employment
Staff Profiles
- Christine Wang: Materials Scientist
- Justin Brooke: Physicist
- George Nowak: Electrical Engineer
- Christ Richmond: Electrical Engineer
- Vyshi Suntharalingam: Electrical Engineer
- Luke Skelly: Computer Scientist/Engineer
- William S. Song: Electrical Engineer
- Jonquil Swann: Electrical/Software Engineer
- Pedro Torres-Carrasquillo: Electrical Engineer with specialty in speech processing
- James Krieger: Physicist/Electrical Engineer
- Kathy Ryan: Financial Analyst
Christine Wang
SB, Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MS, Metallurgy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
PhD, Electronic Materials, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
“Being able to
present and publish one’s research reinforces the value of the work we do here.
There’s a lot of personal satisfaction
in knowing that
one’s peers in the scientific community highly respect our work.”
Dr. Wang has been developing new materials processes to produce advanced semiconductor crystals used for short-wave infrared diode lasers, mid-wave infrared quantum cascade lasers, detectors, and photovoltaics. Her goal is to understand the physics of these devices and to tailor the materials properties so she can produce state-of-the-art devices based on arsenides, phosphides, and antimonides. These devices have applications in power generation, mid-infrared countermeasures, molecular gas sensing, laser radar systems, optical communications, and biological and chemical sensing.
“The nature of the projects we work on,” says Chris, “requires an interdisciplinary group of scientists and engineers. It’s a great opportunity to work with staff that are highly regarded because of their intelligence, motivation, and dedication. When you’re a part of this kind of team, some great accomplishments are inevitable.”
Justin Brooke
BA, Physics, Cornell University
MA, Physics, University of Chicago
PhD, Experimental Physics, University of Chicago
“Lincoln Laboratory provides access
to urgent and
compelling problems,
and the license to pursue cutting-edge solutions — from
the drawing board to operational systems.”
Since joining Lincoln Laboratory in 2003, Dr. Brooke has been involved in the analysis and development of tactical sensor systems, including global positioning systems, long-wave infrared imagers, and RF detection systems. As part of this work, he helps manage force protection and counterterrorism efforts in the Advanced Capabilities and Systems Group, which seeks to counter asymmetric threats with technical solutions. This process begins with the deconstruction of threats to the point where the viability of potential countermeasures can be assessed through modeling, analysis, and measurement. Promising countermeasure system concepts are then quickly architected, prototyped, integrated onto relevant platforms, and tested in real-world conditions. This “rapid prototyping” feeds a spiral development process that shortens development time and increases final system relevancy.
George Nowak
BS, Mathematics and Electrical Engineering, U.S. Military Academy, West Point
MEA, Construction Management, George Washington University
MS, Electrical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
PhD, Electrical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
“There are great opportunities to help solve interesting problems—not only conceptually, but also by building the hardware and fielding systems that contribute to our nation’s security.”
Since joining the Advanced Lasercom Systems and Operations Group at Lincoln Laboratory, Dr. Nowak has helped manage the group’s work on designing and testing laser terminals to support high-bandwidth networking among aircraft and satellites. Specific initiatives in the group involve the design and construction of multi-Gb/s optical transceivers; a subsystem for conducting pointing, acquisition, and tracking among terminals; and optical assemblies to emulate free-space laser propagation over geosynchronous orbit distances. The group also develops high-speed electronic interfaces to provide forward-error correction and bit interleaving to mitigate the impairments of laser communication through the lower atmosphere. The group’s efforts have contributed to accelerating the progress of national laser communication programs.
Christ Richmond
BS, Mathematics, Bowie State University
BS, Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park
EE, SM, and PhD, Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
“We, in essence, develop the ‘smarts’ behind several of the nation’s technologically advanced sensor systems.”
Dr. Richmond’s work consists of theoretical and algorithm development in the general area of detection and parameter estimation theory applied to diverse types of adaptive sensor array systems often deployed in complex (high multipath) environments dominated by limiting interference.
His work has been applied to airborne radar, sonar underwater acoustic systems, and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication systems, and includes signal processing development in space-time adaptive processing (STAP), adaptive beamforming, spectral analysis, performance bounds (Bayesian, non-Bayesian, and non-asymptotic) on parameter estimation (e.g., maximum-likelihood estimation of signal range, Doppler, and/or angle) and receiver operation characteristics (probability of detection vs. false-alarm rate).
Vyshi Suntharalingam
BS, Electrical Engineering, Yale University
PhD, Engineering Science and Mechanics, Penn State University
“I love working in this multidisciplinary, hands-on environment, where you can work with a team to transform a paper design into a testable real-world system.”
Dr. Suntharalingam leads projects to design and develop scientific image sensors for ground- and space-based telescopes. These next-generation technologies are built in Lincoln Laboratory’s Microelectronics Laboratory (a class-10 semiconductor fabrication facility) and other on-site labs. Devices, circuits, and image sensors developed at the Laboratory are used as innovative prototypes for future satellites, telescopes, and communications systems.
"In the Solid State Division,” says Vyshi, “we have projects that address fundamental research topics as well as larger-scale programs to innovate designs to meet specific system requirements. A key reason I came to Lincoln was the ability to publish at peer-reviewed technical conferences while working on much broader programs than could be tackled in an academic environment.”
Luke Skelly
BS, Computer Engineering, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
MA, Computer Science, Boston University via Lincoln Scholars Program
“The Lincoln Scholars Program gave me a chance to fulfill my educational goals and focus my attention on problems of interest to both myself and the Laboratory in research areas such as laser radar sensors.”
Mr. Skelly has been developing novel data processing and computer vision algorithms with a concentration on state-of-the-art 3-D imaging laser radar sensors developed at Lincoln Laboratory. With the support of the Lincoln Scholars Program, he has earned a master’s degree from Boston University; his thesis focused on finding correspondence between 3-D surface maps. This work can be applied to merging datasets from different sensors or sensors with unknown location and orientation; recognizing landscapes, cities, or objects; and tracking multiple targets of unknown shape.
William S. Song
BS, MS, and PhD, Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
“Lincoln Laboratory offers ample opportunities to pursue new and interesting research ideas. I also appreciate the chance to collaborate with great expert colleagues in many fields.”
Since his arrival at Lincoln Laboratory in 1990, Dr. Song has been working on high-performance sensor and VLSI signal processor technologies for adaptive sensor array applications. He has developed numerous advanced signal processing algorithms, architectures, real-time embedded processors, and sensor array systems. Recently, he has been working on a nonlinear equalization processor, mixed-signal system on chip, high-throughput low-power VLSI signal processors, and highly digitized wideband sensor arrays. His research has been applied to programs developing a miniaturized digital receiver and a space-based radar onboard processor.
Jonquil Swann
BS, Computer Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
MS, Electrical Engineering with a concentration in Software Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
“My career at the Laboratory has mainly been about opportunities—opportunities to work in the Pacific, to take classes at Harvard, to attend conferences, and to use a cutting-edge architecture like Eclipse Rich Client Platform. Such opportunities are a constant here—and available to everyone.”
Ms. Swann’s background in software engineering has led to her involvement in many projects at the Laboratory. These projects have focused on ballistic missile defense but have afforded her diverse software opportunities, from creating mission-planning tools using MATLAB to developing a visualization application using the Eclipse Rich Client Platform (RCP). This RCP application is used to visualize mission activities at the Reagan Test Site and is built using the Eclipse framework, which provides a common graphical user interface infrastructure in addition to system features. The latest challenge is to expand this tool to cover mission activities across multiple locations.
Pedro Torres-Carrasquillo
BS, Electrical Engineering, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez
MS, Electrical Engineering, Ohio State University
PhD, Electrical Engineering, Michigan State University
“Satisfaction at Lincoln Laboratory comes from working on problems on the edge of technology with resources available to pursue innovative ideas.”
Dr. Torres-Carrasquillo’s work is in speech processing. His research is focused in two areas: speech analysis for downstream processing and information extraction from speech. In speech analysis for downstream processing, he has worked on speaker diarization, which is the marking of speech into areas of similar speaker content. In information extraction from speech, he has worked in both speaker and language identification: speaker identification involves determining the identity of a speaker based on previously known voice examples, and language identification involves identifying the language spoken on a given voice message.
James Krieger
BS, Physics, University of California at Santa Barbara
MS, Electrical Engineering, The Ohio State University via Lincoln Scholars Program
"I get to work with amazing people on projects that are always on the cutting edge. It’s great to know that everything you work on is somehow pushing the envelope and making an impact. Best of all, I get to see my contributions come to life in real-world applications."
Mr. Krieger has been working primarily on the electromagnetic design and analysis of rapid-prototype ultrawideband antenna arrays for sensor system applications. Part of this work has required electromagnetic analyses to characterize the phenomenology associated with the often complex environments in which these systems are utilized. These projects have involved antennas deployed on unmanned air vehicles and ground-based platforms. The challenge in many of these antenna development projects involves designing high-gain, high-efficiency antenna apertures meeting system performance over very wide frequency ranges.
Kathy Ryan
BS, Business Administration, Bryant University
MS, Business Administration, Northeastern University
“Lincoln Laboratory offers a wide variety of opportunities in nontechnical disciplines. Individuals are encouraged to seek out positions in areas of interest and to grow within the Laboratory.”
Since joining Lincoln Laboratory in 2004, Ms. Ryan has been a commodities buyer in the Procurement Department, with responsibilities for the purchase of computer components and peripherals. As a member of the SAP team responsible for the successful implementation of Supplier Relationship Management (SRM), she performed system testing, wrote procedures for specific purchasing transactions, and trained coworkers. Recently, she worked with the Financial Services Department as a financial analyst with primary focus on allocated budget planning, tracking, and reporting. This budgetary management included the operational costs of maintaining the Laboratory and costs for technical projects that benefit the overall Lincoln Laboratory community.
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