CEIS Advisory Board

Robert Naum

Chair
Robert Naum is a longtime collaborator with CEIS, as a business leader and active member of the CEIS Advisory Board for more than 20 years. He now serves as chairman of that board. Naum has founded more than 10 companies and has served as a bridge between major technology institutions in the areas of advanced materials, optical materials, and optical-technology commercialization.

Naum also has served as a consultant to government entities, including the U.S. Department of Energy. He is renowned for his innovation and corporate product development research and holds seven U.S. patents.

Ryne Raffaelle

Dr. Ryne Raffaelle is the Vice President for Research and Associate Provost at Rochester Institute of Technology, where he is also a professor of physics. He formerly served as director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Center for Photovoltaics at the National Renewable Energy Labs.

He was the first academic director of the Golisano Institute for Sustainability at RIT, and also has worked as a visiting scientist at the NASA-Glenn Research Center, NASA Kennedy Research Center, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

He is founder of the NanoPower Research Labs and co-founder of Cellec Technologies, a manufacturer of advanced lithium ion batteries located in Henrietta, N.Y. He holds a Ph.D. from Missouri University of Science and Technology and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics from Southern Illinois University.

Bob Fiete

Dr. Bob Fiete is Chief Technologist and Senior Fellow at L3Harris, Space and Mission Systems, where he has provided significant advances in mathematically modeling imaging systems. He previously managed the Imaging Systems Analysis group at Kodak and was director of R&D for ITT Space Systems and Exelis Geospatial Systems. Dr. Fiete holds 12 U.S. patents, including one for a method used to focus many of the current imaging satellites and another for an image-enhancement method first used on the “Harry Potter” movies.

As an advisor, Dr. Fiete has briefed the National Security staff at the White House Situation Room and House and Senate Intelligence Committees in Congressional hearings; generated satellite image simulations for President Obama; and worked with the FBI and DOJ on many criminal cases involving image exploitation.

He has authored three books and more than 40 technical papers and was the inaugural editor of the SPIE Spotlights book series. He also has taught many courses, including with the Center for Imaging Science at Rochester Institute of Technology, and has chaired conferences on imaging and optics.

Dr. Fiete holds a bachelor’s degree in physics and math from Iowa State University and a master’s degree and Ph.D in optical sciences from the University of Arizona. He is a senior member of Optica and SPIE and a Fellow of SPIE. He was awarded the SPIE Rudolf Kingslake Medal and was inducted as a Pioneer of National Reconnaissance in the NRO’s Pioneer Hall.

Cristina Canavesi

Dr. Cristina Canavesi is an optical imaging innovator and entrepreneur, whose interests include biomedical translation, instrumentation, and machine-learning approaches for image analysis. She presently serves as an adjunct professor with the Center for Visual Science at the University of Rochester. For 16 years Dr. Canavesi was with the Center for Freeform Optics at URochester, serving as center coordinator for 10 of those years.

She holds a Ph.D. in Optics from The Institute of Optics and an MBA from Simon School of Business, both at the URochester. She was a Fulbright fellow and was awarded the 2012 SPIE Optical Design and Engineering Scholarship and the 2015 recipient of the Hugh H. Whitney Award at the Simon School of Business.

Dr. Canavesi was a 2019 Millennials in Manufacturing Awardee and was selected in 2021 for “Inspiring Fifty Italy,” a prestigious initiative focused on recognizing the top 50 women making significant strides in tech careers across Italy.