Dr. Veronika Stelmakh is the CEO and cofounder of Mesodyne, an MIT spin out commercializing a new class of power generator that converts fuel to electricity via light. Mesodyne’s LightCell™ generator is silent, has no moving parts, operates on most commercial and military fuels, and offers up to 10x the energy density of lithium ion batteries for long endurance missions. Dr. Stelmakh holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington, and a MS and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from MIT. In her doctoral thesis from MIT, she focused on the design, fabrication, and characterization of practical novel metallic nanophotonic structures for high-temperature thermophotovoltaic applications. She is an expert in photonics, nanofabrication, and high temperature materials, and has authored or coauthored more than 20 publications on this topic. Prior to graduate studies, Dr. Stelmakh worked in the power electronics industry.