Dr. Robert F. Karlicek, Jr. is the Director of the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA) and Professor of Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Prior RPI, he spent over 30 years in industrial research and R&D management positions with corporations including AT&T Bell Labs and General Electric. He obtained Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh and has over 56 peer reviewed technical papers and 46 U.S. patents.