NextFlex Announces 2024 Fellows Awards for Five Outstanding Recipients

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NextFlex, America's Hybrid Electronics Manufacturing Institute, presented the annual NextFlex Fellow Awards to five deserving individuals in recognition of their exceptional commitment to advanced manufacturing and the additive hybrid electronics member community. A NextFlex Fellow demonstrates leadership and subject matter expertise in support of the NextFlex mission.

This year’s Fellows include:

Kenneth Church, Ph.D., nScrypt

Dr. Church is the founder and CEO of Sciperio, a research and development firm and of nScrypt, a capital equipment company that creates precision 3D manufacturing systems. Dr. Church has Bachelor of Science degrees in Physics and Electrical Engineering and a Master of Science and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering. He is a pioneer in 3D printed electronics and printed circuit structures. His research interests include lasers and optics and the various ways they interact with a variety of materials, novel antenna designs and optimizations, conformal electronics and tissue engineering. He has more than 80 technical publications and more than a 20 patents or patents pending.

Andrew Kwas, Northrop Grumman

Mr. Kwas has 45 years with NGC/TRW and a total of 47 years working in advanced space programs specializing in, advanced manufacturing, spacecraft design, micro-electronics, nuclear products, space logistics, and astrophysics projects. As a NG Fellow 2, he supports NGC’s key space customers including NASA, AFRL, NRO, DARPA, Army/SMDC, Space RCO, USMC, and the Navy. He is considered one of the prominent advanced manufacturing (AM) experts in the country and has produced over fifty papers in AM, in-space manufacturing, lunar and planetary sciences, hypersonics, and miniaturization of spacecraft components. He brings his innovative approach to problems and has won several corporate awards for innovation.

Erick King, Capital Youth Empowerment Program

Mr. King is the Co-Founder in Executive Director of the Capital Youth Empowerment Program which provides social and economic empowerment programs including fatherhood, workforce development, STEM, and teen sexual health. His unique approach of using evidence-based programming and culturally competent staff was shaped by his work with Fairfax County and Arlington County Court Services Units. In addition, Mr. King recently founded King Consulting and Development Group, Inc. to support diversity and inclusion within university and corporate environments.

David Sabanosh, US Army DEVCOM Armament Center

Mr. Sabanosh serves as the Senior Subject Matter Expert (SME) and Senior Technical Lead for Advanced Manufacturing and Printed Electronics within the Printed Electronics, Energetics, Materials and Sensors (PEEMS) Center at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey. Prior to his current position, Mr. Sabanosh was a Quality, Reliability, and Safety Technical Lead for IED Defeat and Robotic Weapons. He was responsible for providing guidance and direction to various Integrated Product Teams (IPTs) to develop new and novel armament and munition systems.

Madhu Stemmermann, SunRay Scientific, Inc.

Ms. Stemmermann has over 25 years of experience in senior leadership roles across sales, manufacturing, supply chain, engineering and product management. Her focus areas include environmental health & safety, customer focus, quality, and lean six sigma. She has worked across various industries such as medical devices, lighting and electronics with Becton Dickinson, Air Products, Honeywell and General Electric

“As with all our previous Fellows, we cannot overstate the positive impact that this year’s recipients have had on the hybrid electronics community and beyond,” said NextFlex Co-Executive Director Dr. Art Wall. “The positive impact of each of these awardees has had on the member community is immeasurable and much appreciated. As a consortium, we cannot be effective without standout leaders, and we’re pleased to welcome these illustrious individuals as NextFlex Fellows.”

Each of the recipients is a leader in the NextFlex member community; providing technical guidance on future-leaning roadmaps, contributing to successful hybrid electronics development projects, promoting the benefit of STEM education to underserved communities, delivering outstanding workshop content and representing NextFlex to DoD, industry, and academic audiences. These outstanding trailblazers exemplify what’s best about our member community as they help drive the NextFlex mission forward.