Loucas Tsakalakos is the Director of the Sensing Technology Platform within the Electronics organization at the General Electric – Global Research Center in Niskayuna, New York, USA. He received his BS degree (1995) from Rutgers University, and his MS (1998) and PhD (2000) degrees in Materials Science and Engineering (with minors in Solid State Physics and Microelectromechanical Systems) from the University of California, Berkeley. His core expertise is in the integration of heterogeneous thin film and nanostructured materials systems for micro- and nano- device applications; he also has extensive experience in the characterization of materials. He has been at GE since 2000, where he started as a Senior Scientist and Project Leader, and has led programs in advanced sensor systems, nanotechnology, and worked within GE Energy to develop solar energy products, leading a product engineering team. Prior to his current role he was the Manager of the Photonics Lab (May 2012 – February 2017), where he led a team of 20 Ph.D. and M.S. level scientists and engineers developing advanced photonics technologies for data communications, sensing, and novel photonics applications. In his current role he oversees technology strategy and development in advanced sensing systems for GE applications. In this capacity he leads an interal Sensor Synergy Council, development technology insertion strategy via technology catalog and roadmap development, and oversees the R&D portfolio at GE Global Research for BHGE Digital Solutions. He also leads the GE Photonics horizontal program, and is CTO of an internal sensor solutions startup business. He is a member of Tau Beta Pi (The National Engineering Honor Society), is the author or co-author of 49 journal, conference proceedings, and book chapter publications (101 total publications including GE internal reports), has given over 70 presentations at international conferences and workshops, and holds 14 U.S. patents.