COEIT Research Day 2026 – Speakers
Speakers presented alphabetically
See the Agenda for the session program organized by time and location
A former Senior Executive in the U.S. Federal Service, Mohammed Sohail Chaudhry is a strategic leader who directed execution and executive oversight over local and international teams with fiscal responsibility of over $1 billion in business and digital transformation efforts, in service to the American public. He is most notably known for his leadership and outstanding progress as the former CTO of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Prior to that he also served as the Director of IT, Deputy CISO and a senior advisor at the U.S FDA. Additionally, his proven record of driving business and information management transformation spans multiple critical agencies, including the HHS, FDIC, Department of the Treasury, and USAID, alongside experience in the private sector.
As the current Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Vice President (VP) at Precise Software Solutions, he continues to serve the American people by providing exceptional ability and mission-focused strategic enablement.
Matthew Cimino works at the intersection of science, business, and economic development. At the Maryland Department of Commerce, he collaborates with companies, universities, and investors to attract investment, support innovation-driven industries, and strengthen Maryland’s position as a leader in life sciences, quantum technologies, and advanced manufacturing.
Matthew’s background spans scientific research, entrepreneurship, and public service. He has built and scaled businesses, led research initiatives, and now focuses on connecting people, capital, and strategy to create ecosystems where innovation can thrive. His work centers on delivering tangible outcomes, from supporting startup growth to facilitating strategic partnerships and advancing industry-focused initiatives that drive job creation and economic impact.
He has a particular interest in how emerging technologies, especially quantum and next-generation life sciences, can move from research into real-world applications. Much of his work involves bringing together diverse stakeholders to accelerate that transition.
Ms. Susie Drummond is a DC-based member of the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Outreach Team, which directly represents Program Manager Jason Schroepfer in introducing small businesses to the Navy SBIR/STTR Program. She also serves as the Regional Engagement Team Liaison for the National Capital Region, acting as a conduit between Naval Warfare Centers and SBIR/STTR Program Management. Before joining the NAVSEA SBIR/STTR team in 2023, Ms. Drummond spent over 13 years as an educator, engaging in content development and presentation.
David Fink (Bio- Life-Sciences) has worked in biotechnology and biomedical product development for over 40 years, serving as either the founder or top officer of seven startups, mentoring hundreds of aspiring entrepreneurs, authoring 41 scientific papers and book chapters, and securing 25 US patent awards. David also serves as a TEDCO UMBC MII Site Miner and I-Corps Mentor.
Hillel Glazer (Operations) works with growing companies to enhance their operational efficiency and meet their performance targets. Hillel also serves as a TEDCO UMBC MII Site Miner where he identifies groundbreaking technologies in the labs of university faculty members and helps translate their ideas into viable businesses.
Edward Gorzkowski is currently the Branch Head of the Multifunctional Materials Branch at the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington D.C. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from Lehigh University in 1999 and 2004 respectively. Edward started at NRL in 2004 as an NRC post-doc before joining the permanent staff as a materials research engineer. He then served as Head of the Ceramics and Rapid Prototyping Section at NRL before being promoted to his current position in June 2020. Edward is active member of the American Ceramics Society. He received the 2015 Du-Co Young Professionals Award from the American Ceramics Society, a 2018 Best Paper award for the Journal of American Ceramics Society, a 2020 Richard M. Fulrath Award from the American Ceramics Society, and elevated to Fellow of the American Ceramics Society in October 2024. Edward has authored more than 120 peer-reviewed articles and proceedings, delivered over 30 invited talks (including plenary at international conferences), and served as a guest editor for a special issue of IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Journal. He holds 9 Patents, two of which are under licensing agreement and have transitioned to the defense and commercial sector.
Edward is also active in TMS, ASM, Tau Beta Pi, US/Japan Seminar on Dielectric Materials, and DOD-related committees. His research interests include piezoelectric materials for sensor and actuator applications; processing of dielectric and ferroelectric materials; unique processing methods to create bulk nano-structured ceramics including microwave, high pressure and aerosol deposition processing for functional and structural applications such as hypersonics, thermal barrier coatings and magnetic/dielectric devices.
Susan K. Gregurick, Ph.D., was appointed Associate Director for Data Science and Director of the Office of Data Science Strategy (ODSS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on September 16, 2019. Under her leadership, ODSS leads the implementation of the NIH Strategic Plan for Data Science through scientific, technical collaboration with the institutes, centers, and offices that comprise NIH. Dr. Gregurick received the 2020 Leadership in Biological Sciences Award from the Washington Academy of Sciences, which recognizes work of merit and distinction of scientists and leaders in the greater Washington area1.
Prior to joining ODSS, Dr. Gregurick was the Division Director for Biophysics, Biomedical Technology, and Computational Biosciences at the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), where she led the institutes effort to reimagine the NIGMS technology programs through National and Regional Resources to support state-of-the-art facilities, equipment, technologies, research tools, software, and service.
Prior to government service, Dr. Gregurick was a professor of computational chemistry at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She received her B.S. in chemistry and mathematics from the University of Michigan and her Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Maryland.
Fehmida Kapadia (Bio- Life-Sciences) has over 20 years of experience in biomedical entrepreneurship, consulting, teaching and research, and has helped nearly 100 entrepreneurial projects successfully progress in their startup journey.
Dr. Yordan Kostov holds an M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Electrical/Chemical Engineering, with a focus on optical chemical sensors and biosensors. For five years, he was a Professor in the Department of Biotechincs at Sofia Technical University in Bulgaria. After coming to the USA, he served as a Research Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and as Assistant Director of the Center for Advanced Sensor Technology at the same university for 21 years. In 2020, he became a Scientific Review Officer at the Center for Scientific Review, and in 2021, he became a Program Officer at the Office of Translational Initiatives and Program Innovation/National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). His expertise is in biomedical and biotechnology instrumentation and measurements, physiological monitoring, as well as biomedical devices and systems, which is directly applicable to the vast majority of NIDA’s programs. He also has significant experience in translation from bench to bedside, as well as in technology transfer, which directly supports NIDA’s Small Business Innovative Research program and the Blueprint Medtech initiative.
Paul M. Pellegrino received his B.S. degree in Physics from Seattle University, Seattle, WA, in 1989, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Physics from New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM in 1993 and 1996, respectively. He is currently the Division Chief of the Advanced Photonics, Electronics and Quantum Sciences of the DEVCOM. Army Research Laboratory (ARL), Army Research Directorate (ARD) in Adelphi, MD. He has been with the ARL as a Physicist, for 27 years. He has approximately 34 years experience in the areas of physics, computational physics and sensor development with a strong emphasis in the last 24 years on chemical and biological sensing and more recently integrated photonics. Current research interests include chip-based chemical & biological sensors, and optical phased-arrays. He has authored or coauthored over 90 open literature publications in various sensor platforms. Dr. Pellegrino is a member in good standing of OPTICA (formerly Optical Society of America), SPIE (fellow), and currently acts as a member of the program committee for the OPTICA Sensors meeting.
He is a decorated civilian being an award recipient of several Army Research & Development Achievement (RDA) awards (2001, 2010, and 2012). He has also received ARL Honorary Award for Program Management in 2015 and Army Civilian Commendation in 2021 Dr. Pellegrino was selected and graduated from Aberdeen Proving Ground Senior Leadership Cohort Program in 2016.
Personally, he has been married to his lovely wife Lisa for 35 years and has four adult children ranging in age from 28 to 23. He is an active member of his church community, and his current hobbies include volunteer work as well as paying college tuition.
Currently, Rahul Thakar is the Acting Scientific Director for NHLBI’s Catalyze Program. Catalyze provides comprehensive suite of support and services to facilitate the transition of basic science discoveries into viable diagnostic and therapeutic candidates that have been cleared for human testing, and to develop a translational research workforce fluent in product development and entrepreneurship for heart, lung, blood, and sleep-focused applications.
He continues to maintain a portfolio that intersects cardiovascular-related regenerative medicine, mechanobiology, and synthetic biology topics. Previously, Dr. Thakar also contributed to NHLBI’s efforts on the NHLBI-NIDDK Cardiovascular Repository for Type-1 Diabetes (CaRe-T1D), NIH Pediatric Research Consortium-Medical Devices (N-PeRC-MD), Somatic Cell Genome Editing (SCGE) Program, and the NIH’s Synthetic Biology Consortium (including NHLBI-focused synthetic biology efforts). He also coordinated his Division’s SBIR/STTR Programs. He has additional responsibilities with NIH’s administration of NHLBI’s Catalyze Program and the Regenerative Medicine Innovation Project as the Contract Officer Representative. Prior to joining NHLBI, Dr. Thakar held positions at the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
Dr. Ramana Vinjamuri is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). He serves as the UMBC Site Director for the NSF Industry–University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) BRAIN—Building Reliable Advances and Innovations in Neurotechnologies—and leads the Sensorimotor Control Laboratory (Vinjamuri Lab). His research focuses on sensorimotor control, brain–computer interfaces, rehabilitation robotics, exoskeletons, human–robot collaboration, and neurotechnologies for rehabilitation and mental health. Dr. Vinjamuri’s research program is supported by multiple federal agencies, foundations, and innovation programs, including the National Science Foundation (NSF CAREER Award, NSF I-Corps, NSF IUCRC), the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR SBIR), the United States–India Science and Technology Endowment Fund, the New Jersey Health Foundation, and several UMBC innovation initiatives. In addition to his research leadership, Dr. Vinjamuri plays an active role in interdisciplinary health research and academic collaboration. He serves as the Director of the Cyber & AI Core within the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB)–UMBC Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR), where he supports clinical and translational research. He is also an Affiliate Faculty member of the Public Health Research Center (PHRC) in UMBC’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, contributing engineering and neurotechnology perspectives to public health research initiatives. His translational contributions in synergy-based hand control, rehabilitation robotics, and multimodal neural interfaces have been recognized through numerous honors, including the Mary E. Switzer Merit Fellowship from NIDILRR (2010), IEEE Senior Membership (2011), the Harvey N. Davis Distinguished Teaching Award from Stevens Institute of Technology (2018), and the NSF CAREER Award (2019). He was recently named one of Technical.ly’s 2025 RealLIST Innovators in Maryland. He is the recipient of the 2025–2026 UMBC Marilyn E. Demorest Faculty Advancement Award, which recognizes outstanding commitment to mentoring and supporting junior faculty. Dr. Vinjamuri also serves as a Visiting Scientist at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health, where he advances neurotechnology and mental-health innovation. Internationally, he holds adjunct appointments at IIT Hyderabad and Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) in India, where he teaches short-format fractal credit courses during summer and intersession periods, strengthening global training pipelines in neuroengineering and robotics, strengthening UMBC’s international research footprint. A highly engaged member of the neuroengineering community, Dr. Vinjamuri chaired the IEEE Brain Workshop at the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) 2023, and BMES 2024, and contributes broadly through editorial service, conference organization, and global research collaborations.