Theme: Space Optics

John W. Conklin is the Don D. and Ruth S. Eckis Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida and Assistant Director of the UF Astraeus Space Institute. He joined the UF faculty in 2012 after a three-year research associateship at the W.W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory at Stanford. He received his BS and MEng degrees from Cornell and PhD from Stanford. In 2011, John was the Fulbright Junior Lecturer at the University of Trento in Italy. He has served as Vice-chair and member of NASA’s Astrophysics Advisory Committee. John has been awarded the NASA Group Achievement Award in 2005 for the Gravity Probe B science team, the Balhaus Prize in 2009 for best PhD thesis in Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford, the Zeldovich Medal in 2010, the NASA Early Career Faculty Award in 2014, NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellowship in Space Astrophysics for Early Career Researchers in 2015 and the Space Science Award from AIAA in 2016.

Becky Borrelli is an L3Harris Principal Fellow and Chief Technologist working in the Space Superiority & Imaging Division (SSID), which offers complete earth observation, weather, geospatial, space exploration, space protection and intelligence solutions including advanced sensors and payloads, ground processing, analytics and space segment development.
Space Superiority & Imaging is focused on innovative and accelerated development of telescopes, electro-optical payloads, electronics, precision mechanisms, on-board processing, system operation and maintenance and other solutions to meet the needs of the Title 10, Title 50, Civil/Science and advanced research communities.
Investigator for multiple R&D projects and helped develop and implement technologies such as Replicated Composite Optics, additively manufactured Invar, additively manufactured glass, specialty coatings, novel optical processing and testing approaches. She oversaw the execution of R&D projects in disciplines ranging from optics to electronics to algorithms.
Since 2022, Becky has led the Precision Optics Leadership Team. A matrixed organization of leaders within L3Harris responsible for the dsign, analysis, manfuacturing and testing of precision optics.
In 2025, she took on the additional role of Chief Technologist for Space Superiority & Imaging. She leads a team of chief engineers and principal investigators that are in charge of technology roadmapping and execution of the entire R&D portfolio valued at $20M per year. 
In recognition of her expertise and broad impact Becky was named a L3Harris Technical Fellow in 2020 and Principal Fellow in 2022.
Becky has a Bachelor of Science in Honors Physics and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Purdue University. She earned her Ph.D. in Optics from the University of Rochester in 2012.
Becky joined L3Harris in 2012 as an optical metrology engineer, responsible for precision metrology of optical components and systems. She worked on projects such as the 3.2-meter M2 for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the optical testing of the James Webb Space Telescope.
In 2017, Becky was named the Engineering Manager for the newly created Optical Engineering organization. She was responsible for 40 employees including optical design engineers and optical metrology engineers. She established optics as a valued discipline within the L3Harris and established connections with key university affiliates.
In 2019, Becky transitioned to leading Research & Development (R&D) and strategy for the Imaging Systems division. She served as Principal Fellow in 2022.