NextFlex Fellows

Dr. Anderson is a subject matter expert in multiple technology disciplines, including flexible electronics. Dr. Anderson previously held technical roles at Nantero and Applied Materials and holds four patents in the areas of NRAM and transistor integration, metrology equipment for transparent substrates, multi-step photomask etching and phase shifting photomask fabrication. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Engineering from Penn State University and a Ph.D. in Plasma Physics/Nuclear Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Mr. Herndon is a 1987 graduate of Purdue University, where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. Mr. Herndon has also received his Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act Level II certification in Systems Planning, Research, Development, and Engineering (1997) and level III certification in Program Management (2006). Mr. Herndon is a member of the American Society of Naval Engineers and the Defense Acquisition Professional Community. Mr. Herndon began his civil service career at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane) as a Cooperative Engineering Education Student in 1983. Mr. Herndon’s early assignments included multiple engineering roles in Rocket Warheads & Fuzes, Special Purpose Munitions development for the Naval Special Warfare community, and Conventional Surface Warfare Ammunition acquisition. In 2010, Mr. Herndon transitioned to Director of the Critical Technologies Innovation Center at NSWC Crane. In this role, Mr. Herndon is focused on providing national leadership in the area of advance technologies for Interconnects, Trusted Electronics, Power & Energy, Technology Protection, and RF devices. In 2012, Mr. Herndon took on additional duties to serve as Program Manager in NSWC Crane’s role as the DoD’s Executive Agent Technical Lead for Printed Circuit Board & Interconnect Technology, ensuring DoD access to trusted and affordable electronic interconnect technologies necessary for critical national defense systems and warfighter superiority.

Mr. Hughes serves as a Subject Matter Expertin the field of electronic components and electronic assembly processes within the Program Executive Office Missiles and Space. Mr. Hughes holds patents in the fields of Printed Circuit Board Technology and Flexible Hybrid Electronics.  His resume encompasses over twenty-five years of combined experience in the field of electronics including component level micro-electronics and advanced electronics assembly processes.  Mr. Hughes’s career includes more than fifteen years in the commercial sector as well as an additional ten years within government.  He serves as both a member and committee chair within IPC – The Association Connecting Electronic Industries and JEDEC – The Joint Electron Device Engineering Council.  Within NextFlex, Mr. Hughes serves as the Government Lead for the Device Integration and Packaging Technical Working Group and is a member of the Technical Council.  He also sits on the Joint Defense Manufacturing Technology Electronics Sub-Panel within the DOD.  Mr. Hughes received an Achievement Medal from the U.S. Army for his contributions in the field of electronics in 2015.  Mr. Hughes is a graduate of Auburn University.

Dr. Lall holds Joint Courtesy Appointments in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Finance.  He is a member of the Technical and Governing Council of NextFlex, America’s Flexible Hybrid Electronics Manufacturing Institute.  He is the author and co-author of 2-books, 14 book chapters, and over 550 journal and conference papers in the field of electronics reliability, safety, energy efficiency, and survivability.  Dr. Lall is a fellow of the ASME, fellow of the IEEE, and a Fellow of the Alabama Academy of Science.  He is recipient of the Auburn Research and Economic Development Advisory Board Award for Advancement of Research and Scholarship Achievement, IEEE Sustained Outstanding Technical Contributions Award, National Science Foundation’s Alex Schwarzkopf Prize for Technology Innovation, Alabama Academy of Science’s Wright A. Gardner Award, IEEE Exceptional Technical Achievement Award, ASME-EPPD Applied Mechanics Award, SMTA’s Member of Technical Distinction Award, Auburn University’s Creative Research and Scholarship Award, SEC Faculty Achievement Award, Samuel Ginn College of Engineering Senior Faculty Research Award, Three-Motorola Outstanding Innovation Awards, Five-Motorola Engineering Awards, and over Twenty Best-Paper Awards at national and international conferences.

Benjamin Leever is currently the Acting Technical Director in the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Manufacturing & Industrial Technology Division. As Tech Director, Dr. Leever is the principal advisor on internal & external technical programs for the division, and he functions as senior leader for the division addressing strategic planning & execution, definition of organizational & program policy, support for transition of technology, & establishment of appropriate partnerships with industrial customers.

Prior to assuming his current duties, Dr. Leever served as the Advanced Development Leader for AFRL’s Soft Materials Branch, leading an external portfolio focused on flexible electronics and biomaterials. He has also previously led a research team focused on the development and modeling of multifunctional materials for structural power applications. Dr. Leever earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and a Ph.D. in Materials Science & Engineering from Northwestern University.

Mike has an extensive background in scalable additive manufacturing of flexible, stretchable, and 3D hybrid electronics and devices. Most recently Mike served on NextFlex’s technology commercialization team where he managed the conventional and direct write printing equipment installed in the Institute’s cleanroom and conducted process development work on these systems. Previously he worked at NovaCentrix after their acquisition of his company, PChem Associates Inc. As co-founder and chief-technologist of PChem he spent a decade developing, patenting, and commercializing nanoparticle-based inks, additive circuit manufacturing processes, and printed devices and electronics. He started his career at Parelec Inc., pioneers of next generation hybrid particle-metalorganic decomposition (MOD) based functional inks. He has expertise in chemical precipitation synthesis of metallic nanoparticles, colloid stabilization methods, and formulation of printable functional ‘inks’ for electronics applications. Mike holds a M.S degree in chemical engineering from Pennsylvania State University and his research on synthesis of surfactant stabilized nanoparticles was awarded a 2000 Materials Research Institute Xerox Research Award.

Chris received his Doctorate degree in Mechanical Engineering / Materials Science at the University of Technology in Aachen, Germany, and completed postdoctoral studies at UCLA. His technical expertise is centered on vacuum deposition and surface functionalization processes, and he has developed products for a broad range of applications in tribology, photovoltaics, optics, energy conservation, thermal management, and electronics. He joined Eastman Chemical through the acquisition of Solutia and Southwall Technologies and held prior R&D assignments at JDS-Uniphase, DuPont Displays and at several SBIR companies and Silicon Valley startups. Chris currently serves the professional community as the president of the Society of Vacuum Coaters. He was instrumental in Eastman becoming a founding member of the NextFlex consortium. Chris is the point-of-contact for Eastman’s FHE-related industry engagements through various NextFlex functions, with a focus on introducing innovative substrates, surface modifications, and encapsulation options to the flexible electronics ecosystem.

Nancy is engaged in several projects in wearable sensing for healthcare and worker safety, and industrial asset monitoring. She has 20+ years of experience in materials and process development in the electronics packaging field in both technical and managerial roles. Nancy was the Director of Microsystems Packaging at STC MEMS and held technical and management roles at Xerox and IBM in the areas of materials and process development for microsystem, microfluidics, optoelectronics and electronic packaging.  She is active in several professional and educational organizations including the IEEE ECTC Executive Board, the MRS Society Industrial Engagement Council, Cornell University Center for Materials Research and Cornell’s Materials Science Department Advisory Board. Dr. Stoffel received a Ph.D. from Cornell in Materials Science.

Dr. Stuart is a subject matter expert in nanobiotechnology and has led Lockheed Martin (LM) programs on diverse technologies, including synthetic biology, additive manufacturing, and flexible electronics. Jeff received his Ph.D. in Biophysics from Syracuse University, holds 4 patents, and has authored/co-authored more than 30 publications, including multiple book chapters. He previously worked in Emerging Technologies at the LM Advanced Technology Laboratories (ATL). Prior to LM, Jeff held research faculty positions at Syracuse University and the University of Connecticut. He has been PI on a variety of funded grants from AFRL, ARO, NSF, the Army Institute for Collaborative Biotechnology, NBMC, and industry. He currently serves on Lockheed Martin’s technical liaison team to NextFlex, and as Chair of the NBMC Governing Council (through 2018). He has also been honored with the LM Outstanding Leadership Award, the LM ATL Award of Distinction, and the Lockheed Martin NOVA Award.

Dr. Williams is developing “additive electronics manufacturing” (AEM) for use on Boeing platforms. He founded the BR&T Huntsville AEM effort performing groundbreaking research in microwave filters, antennas, and flexible hybrid electronic (FHE) sensors by maturing manufacturing capabilities, implementing modeling and simulation, and developing prototype demonstrators. He is Boeing’s Technical Council Representative for NextFlex, and leads the Materials Working Group road mapping for the NextFlex community. John applies additive electronics across the enterprise in areas associated with communications, health monitoring, hybrid aircraft, soft robotics, autonomy, and wearable devices for factory floor safety. He implements new research goals and directions using disruptive technologies that when matured have the potential to change the way we look at sensors and electronics. This is achieved through active collaboration with several Boeing teams, universities, and small businesses. John has been awarded 13 US patents, has more than 15 patents pending, 2 trade secrets, published more than 40 journal articles, and given dozens of talks to peers, universities, 2 US congressmen, and the Governor of Alabama during his 15-year career. His current and previous funding comes from NASA, DARPA, NIH, DoD, NSF, and NextFlex.