Seminar Coordinators

2026 / 2027

Innovation to Impact: The Science at National Labs and the Art of Technology Transfer

  • Speaker: Kannan Krishnaswami, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.), Senior Commercialization Manager, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
  • Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2026
  • Time and Location: 3:30-4:30 p.m., Olsen Hall Room 503
  • Sponsored by the UMass Lowell Submillimeter-wave Technology Laboratory

Abstract: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has a core mission to move innovations from the laboratory to industry, transforming scientific discoveries into real-world solutions that advance our federal sponsor's missions in energy security, sustainable environmental management, national and homeland security. These innovations need to be appropriately protected, reduced to practice, and sufficiently derisked for industry to adopt. Technology transfer of these government funded innovations is an art that resides at the intersection of Science, Business, and Law - necessitating the ability to comfortably traverse the space between the three disciplines. It requires demonstrating and communicating scientific innovations in the context of an unmet market need, clearly articulating its value proposition, and crafting licensing agreements that provide flexibility to our industry partners towards achieving both technical and financial milestones. The successful transfer of technologies to create products and services for commercial and government use strengthens U.S. competitiveness and simultaneously delivers impactful solutions to advance our federal sponsor's missions.

Bio: Kannan Krishnaswami, Ph.D., M.B.A. is a Senior Technology Commercialization Manager at PNNL. In this role, he stewards a portfolio of security technologies that include sensors, instruments, and data analytical innovations. He is responsible for identifying and capturing intellectual property, its development and demonstration, ultimately leading to its transfer to industry for productization and implementation to enhance the security of our nation and its critical assets. Kannan joined PNNL in 2004 as a rsearch scientist working on infrared remote sensing technologies for nuclear nonproliferation applications and subsequently transitioned to managing internal research investments directed towards security innovations. Kannan earned his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Massachusetts in Lowell, Massachusetts, and is MBA from the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.

2024 / 2025

Heterogeneous Integration and Micromachining Technologies for the Development of Terahertz Devices, Components and Instruments

  • Speaker: Robert M. Weikle, II, Professor, Charles L. Brown Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Virginia
  • Date: December 9, 2025

The Design and Use of THz Quasi-Optical Systems for Measurements Covering the Size Range from 10^(-10) to 10^37 Metres - Protein Folding to Cosmology

  • Speaker: Richard Wylde
  • Date: February 26, 2025

Early Investigations of Terahertz Technology for Biomedical Applications

  • Speaker: Cecil Joseph
  • Date: November 8, 2024

Deep Learning for RF and Optical Devices

  • Speaker: Hualiang Zhang
  • Date: September 20, 2024

2022 / 2023

Generalized Space-Time Engineered Modulation (GSTEM) Metamaterials

  • Speaker: Christophe Caloz
  • Date: postponed.

Frequency Transformation from Microwave to Terahertz by a Time-varying Medium

  • Speaker: Dikshitulu K. Kalluri, Professor Emeritus University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Date: April 20, 2023

THz Technology: The Move from Scientific to Commercial Applications - 6G, Space and More

  • Speaker: Jeffrey Hesler
  • Date: December 7, 2022