Zachary John Lemnios (born February 21, 1955) is an American scientist, executive, and engineer who has worked in government, industry, and academia. Most notably, he held the post of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (currently known as Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering) from 2009 to 2012, and he has served as the first Chief Technology Officer of

MIT Lincoln Laboratory The MIT Lincoln Laboratory, located in Lexington, Massachusetts, is a United States Department of Defense federally funded research and development center chartered to apply advanced technology to problems of national security. Research and dev ...

, and as

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

of Research at IBM. Lemnios later founded ZJL Consulting, LLC.

Early life

Zachary Lemnios was born on February 21, 1955 in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

, and he was raised in

Lexington, Massachusetts Lexington is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown Boston. The population was 34,454 as of the 2020 census. The area was originally inhabited by Native Americans, and was firs ...

. He attended the Lexington public schools and graduated from Lexington High School. He was an avid amateur radio operator (WA1LTA) and enjoyed building electronic projects.

Education

Lemnios received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1976 and his Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (MSEE) from the

McKelvey School of Engineering The James McKelvey School of Engineering is a part of Washington University in St. Louis. Founded in 1854, the engineering school is a research institution occupying seven buildings on Washington University's Danforth Campus. Research emphasis ...

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

in 1979. His thesis was titled, "The Fabrication and Evaluation of Microwave Field Effect Transistors". He also completed post graduate courses, including the Harvard Kennedy School of Government Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security (NIS).

Career

Lemnios held technical and leadership positions across industry at

Hughes Aircraft The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting p ...

Westinghouse Electric The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...

, and Ford Microelectronics that led to the development of advanced microelectronic components. Lemnios served as the first Chief Technology Officer of

. He joined the

Information Processing Technology Office The Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO), originally "Command and Control Research",Lyon, Matthew; Hafner, Katie (1999-08-19). ''Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins Of The Internet'' (p. 39). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition. was par ...

(IPTO) in April 2002, and was influential in the creation of the Personalized Assistant that Learns program. Lemnios has served as Chair and on the Technical Program Committee of GOMACTech and GaAs IC Symposium. Defense

Lemnios was confirmed as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering by the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

on June 19, 2009, and he was sworn in on July 2, 2009. In this position, Lemnios was the Chief Technology Officer for Department of Defense. Lemnios established the DoD Science and Technology Executive Committee. Lemnios served as a Principal member, Committee on Technology of the

National Science and Technology Council The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) is a council in the Executive Branch of the United States. It is designed to coordinate science and technology policy across the branches of federal government. History The National Science and ...

; Advisor,

Defense Acquisition Board The Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) is the senior advisory board for defense acquisitions in the Department of Defense of the United States. The board is chaired by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics and include ...

; Chairman, Radiation Hardened Oversight Council (RHOC); Chairman, Defense Science and Technology Advisory Group (DSTAG); Chairman, Armed Services Biomedical Research Evaluation and Management Committee; Chairman, DoD Combat Feeding Research and Engineering Board (CFREB); and Chairman, DoD Biometrics Executive Committee. He launched four imperatives for the Defense Science & Technology enterprise, which set the framework for how the Department of Defense prepares for future US national security needs: *"Accelerate the delivery of technical capabilities to win the current fight and develop the skills and processes to rapidly field capabilities in any future fight". *"Prepare for an uncertain future" by investing in key technologies such as cyber science and technology, electronic warfare and protection, data-to-decisions (to reduce cycle time and manpower for analysis), engineered resilient systems (for protection against infiltration and to develop agile manufacturing for trusted defense systems), countering WMDs, autonomous systems, and enhancing human systems (human-machine interfaces). *"Reduce the cost, acquisition time, and risk of major defense acquisition programs". *"Develop world class science, technology, engineering, and math capabilities for the DoD and the Nation". Lemnios announced his resignation on November 20, 2012. He left

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metony ...

and joined IBM where he served as

for research strategy.

Awards

Lemnios has authored more than 40 papers and holds 4 patents in advanced

Gallium arsenide Gallium arsenide (GaAs) is a III-V direct band gap semiconductor with a Zincblende (crystal structure), zinc blende crystal structure. Gallium arsenide is used in the manufacture of devices such as microwave frequency integrated circuits, monoli ...

device and MMIC technology. Lemnios is a Life Fellow of the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

. In 2018, Lemnios received the University of Michigan Electrical and Computer Engineering Alumni Impact Award for "helping to shape the new Frontier in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science", the highest recognition granted by ECE to its alumni. Lemnios received the

Alumni Achievement Award.

Patents

*Three Metal Personalization Of Application Specific Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit *Three Metal Personalization Of Application Specific Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit *Sputtered Metallic Silicide Gate For GaAs Integrated Circuits *Ion Implant Mask And Cap For Gallium Arsenide Structures

Personal life

He was selected by the

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

to be one of the

USA Science and Engineering Festival The USA Science & Engineering Festival is a bi-annual science festival held in Washington, D.C. Founded in 2010 by Larry Bock, the festival is the largest celebration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines in the ...

's Nifty Fifty Speakers to speak about his work and career to middle and high school students in October 2010. Lemnios was a special guest at the

Team America Rocketry Challenge The American Rocketry Challenge is an annual American model rocketry competition for students in grades six to 12 sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association and the National Association of Rocketry. Co-sponsors include NASA, United State ...

in 2010, delivered remarks to young students at the Real World Design Challenge in 2012, and was a special guest at the

FIRST Robotics Competition FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition. Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work during a six-week period to build robots capable of competing in that year's game that weig ...

in 2012.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lemnios, Zachary Living people University of Michigan College of Engineering alumni American people of Greek descent United States Assistant Secretaries of Defense Obama administration personnel MIT Lincoln Laboratory people Fellow Members of the IEEE American scientists McKelvey School of Engineering alumni IBM people Washington University in St. Louis alumni 1955 births