Leadership Team Expands; Scientists, Engineer, and Post-Docs Strengthen Labs
Sunnyvale, Calif. – October 30, 2024 – NTT Research, Inc., a division of NTT (TYO:9432), today announced that it has named Takami Abe as COO and Laura Zaccone as Vice President, Head of Legal. Over the first ten months of 2024, NTT Research has also gained four scientists, one test engineer, and three post-doctoral fellows. These new members of the leadership team and the Physics & Informatics (PHI), Cryptography & Information Security (CIS), and Medical & Health Informatics (MEI) laboratories bring with them considerable talent, experience, and skills.
NTT Research’s new COO Takami Abe assumes half of the dual (COO/CTO) role held by Hideaki Ozawa, who retains his title as CTO. Abe, who obtained an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin and a M.S. in Engineering from the University of Tokyo, began his career at NTT East in 2000. In 2019, he joined NTT’s representative office in Washington, D.C., as deputy general manager and technical representative, and he became general manager in 2021. Before joining NTT Research in October 2024, he spent two years as a senior manager at NTT East, one of NTT’s five major subsidiaries. Zaccone also joined NTT Research in October 2024 and was most recently senior director, corporate counsel, with NTT Ltd., for six years. She previously served as an associate with law firm Carter Ledyard & Milburn, LLP. She has a J.D. (magna cum laude) from Brooklyn Law School and a B.A. (magna cum laude) from New York University.
“We’re delighted to welcome Takami Abe and Laura Zaccone to our team,” NTT Research President and CEO Kazuhiro Gomi said. “Both have stellar track records, have filled key roles in our larger organization, and are well positioned to advance our unique mission – operationally, in Takami’s case, and legally where Laura is concerned, especially as we develop more and more intellectual property. We’re also excited by the additions to our labs and the potential that each of these new members represents.”
The three NTT Research labs have gained eight new employees and post-docs, with four going to the PHI Lab. In January 2024, Alexei Bogdanov, previously a research engineer for HGST, a Western Digital company, joined the PHI Lab as a senior research scientist. Holding a Ph.D. from Prokhorov General Physics Institute, part of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Dr. Bogdanov’s work at the PHI Lab will involve the establishment of state-of-the-art facilities for advanced photonic fabrication, along with the concurrent development of corresponding fabrication processes. In April 2024, Mostafa Honari, a former PHI Lab post-doc, was named research engineer. Dr. Honari, who is highly skilled in optics and silicon photonics, obtained his Ph.D. from the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Also in April, the PHI Lab named Ziyin Liu a post-doctoral fellow. Dr. Liu, who is also a post-doc at MIT, obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo. His research focuses on the theoretical foundations of deep learning. In June, the PHI Lab hired Caleb Lille as a photonic test engineer for the lab’s thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) group. Lille was previously with the Pittsburg Quantum Institute. His research interests include quantum memory, device physics, memory systems, and memory architecture.
The CIS Lab has added three members to its team this year. In June, Dakshita Khurana joined the CIS Lab as a scientist. On leave from her position as assistant professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Dr. Khurana obtained her Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles. She was recently a Google Research Fellow at the Simons Institute, Berkeley, and has been named to the Forbes “30 under 30” in science. In July, Luowen Qian joined the CIS Lab as a post-doc. He obtained his Ph.D. at Boston University and has given numerous lectures in the fields of quantum computation and cryptography. In August, Junichi Tomida joined the CIS Lab as a visiting scientist. He obtained his Ph.D. in Informatics at Kyoto University and works primarily on advanced cryptosystems based on pairings and multi-party computation.
The MEI Lab has also gained a valuable new member, Patrick Gelbach, who joined as research scientist in February. Dr. Gelbach obtained his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California, focusing on computational modeling of cellular metabolism. He then worked as a research scientist at Embody Biosciences, where he helped further develop Embody’s digital twin platform and build a model for metabolic syndrome. Dr. Gelbach’s work in the MEI Lab focuses on the development of the cardiovascular bio-digital twin, in particular, on model development and parameter estimation.
NTT Research is highly valued by its scientific employees for both the freedom of inquiry it promotes and the ambitious goals it pursues, combining fundamental, basic research with a capacity to promote select research initiatives that show market potential. It is an equal opportunity employer with an active fellowship program for young scientists looking to advance their careers and join our mission to Upgrade Reality. For more on current fellowship and other employment opportunities, please visit our careers page.
About NTT Research
NTT Research opened its offices in July 2019 as a new Silicon Valley startup to conduct basic research and advance technologies that promote positive change for humankind. Currently, three labs are housed at NTT Research facilities in Sunnyvale: the Physics and Informatics (PHI) Lab, the Cryptography and Information Security (CIS) Lab, and the Medical and Health Informatics (MEI) Lab. The organization aims to upgrade reality in three areas: 1) quantum information, neuroscience and photonics; 2) cryptographic and information security; and 3) medical and health informatics. NTT Research is part of NTT, a global technology and business solutions provider with an annual R&D budget of $3.6 billion.
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