Leadership

Dr. Bennett is co-Founder and managing member of MEPSS LLC, a software-based startup for decision support and automation. She is a member of the Army Science Board, the Editor-in-Chief for Applied Optics, a member of the Strategic Planning Committee for Optica, and a member of the AIP Investment Advisory Committee. Dr. Bennett has over 30 years’ experience in applied research through academic, industry, and government projects. As the former Associate Vice President for Research, Faculty Integration, at Georgia Tech and as the Senior VP for Strategic and Research Initiatives at FIT, she increased the research collaborations across the institute between basic and applied research. As the Director for the Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory at Georgia Tech Research Institute, she expanded the research portfolio in the areas of optical imaging systems, EO modeling and simulation, LIDAR development for sensing, Active-EO Systems, and IoT sensor systems. Her academic appointments included Regents’ Researcher, Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the Glenn Robinson Chair in Electro-Optics.

She served on the board of directors for Optica (formally OSA) and was the President for the IEEE Council on RFID. She has patents, numerous publications, and contributes to ISO in developing standards for shipping container monitoring. She is a Fellow with OSA and SPIE. She has received numerous awards to include Superior Civilian Service Medal, Department of the Army, the second highest award of the Department of the Army and the Commander’s Award for Public Service, Department of the Army.

Dr. Bennett holds a BSE and an M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Central Florida. She earned her PhD in electrical engineering and Certificate in Management of Technology from Georgia Institute of Technology.