Fierce Sensors proudly announces its second group of honorees in the Rising Stars 2026 awards program. These awards are timed with Sensors Converge being held May 5-7 in Santa Clara, CA.
The Fierce Sensors Rising Stars are individuals driving advancements in technology, pushing boundaries and shaping the future of electronics with their creativity, expertise, and impact. Additional honorees will be named each week in Fierce Sensors in no particular order. The first group appeared Feb. 16. in Fierce Sensors.
The entire class will be honored May 6 at Sensors Converge 2026, May 5-7 in Santa Clara, CA.
Madhura Tapse
Product Marketing Manager
NXP Semiconductors
USA
Madhura Tapse is a distinguished Product Marketing Manager at NXP Semiconductors where she spearheads go-to-market strategies and product positioning for cutting-edge edge AI and analog-enabled embedded solutions tailored to industrial markets.
With more than a decade of experience bridging engineering and strategic marketing, Madhura specializes in deploying real-time artificial intelligence to enable predictive maintenance and smart factory applications. Her technical expertise spans analog front-ends, signal processing, and microcontroller-based system design. She excels at developing scalable machine learning pipelines optimized for compute- and power-constrained environments, even in the most demanding industrial conditions.
Currently pursuing her MBA at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, Madhura integrates rigorous systems thinking with emerging business leadership acumen to accelerate the adoption of next-generation embedded intelligence technologies.
She is passionate about demystifying complex innovations and known by colleagues for her ability to craft compelling narratives and deliver market education, making advanced technologies both accessible and transformative for diverse stakeholders.
As a rising star in the semiconductor and industrial IoT sectors, Madhura Tapse exemplifies innovative leadership, technical depth, and strategic vision poised to shape the future of intelligent industrial systems.
Gleb Akselrod
CTO and Founder
Lumotive
USA
Gleb Akselrod is the Founder and CTO of Lumotive, where he leads the technical direction for their innovative programmable optics and what they call LIDAR 2.0.
He earned his Ph.D. in Physics from MIT and a B.S. in Engineering Physics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Before starting Lumotive, Gleb headed up optical technologies at Intellectual Ventures and completed postdoctoral research at Duke University, focusing on plasmonic nanoantennas and metasurfaces.
He's a prolific inventor, listed as co-inventor on more than 30 U.S. patents—many centered on metasurfaces and advanced light-control technologies that power Lumotive's groundbreaking approach to beam steering and optical semiconductors.
With his deep background in photonics and optoelectronics, Gleb is helping push the boundaries of solid-state LIDAR, making it smaller, more affordable, and far more reliable than traditional mechanical systems.
Ian McEachern
Owner
Nerdian
USA
Ian Coll McEachern is a versatile mechanical, electrical, and systems engineer who thrives on designing and building sophisticated medical and industrial devices. As the founder of Nerdian Inc. and Golden Gate Molders in San Francisco, he's spent over two decades turning ambitious ideas into real-world products that are making a difference globally.
Through Nerdian, his product design and engineering consultancy, Ian has led the development of advanced technologies like surgical robots, ventricular assist blood pumps, and implantable sensors—devices now deployed in hospitals and facilities around the world. He blends cutting-edge digital tools with old-school hands-on skills, from machining and prototyping to full systems integration, to bring complex electro-mechanical innovations from concept to production.
Complementing that work, he launched Golden Gate Molders to fill a gap in San Francisco's manufacturing scene: a local shop specializing in high-quality injection molding, often using innovative 3D-printed and CNC-machined molds for fast prototyping and small-to-medium production runs. It's a natural extension of his passion for keeping design and making close together, especially in a city known more for software than hardware.
Ian is a tinkerer and machinist at heart—someone who loves inventing, building, and solving tough problems with a mix of technical depth and practical craftsmanship. His work bridges the worlds of medical innovation, industrial hardware, and local manufacturing, all while staying rooted in the hands-on spirit that drives real progress.
Joe Fleming
Associate Professor
Coventry University
UK
Joe Fleming is an Associate Professor at Coventry University where he brings practical and academic experience to his role in instrumentation, measurement, and energy systems. A Chartered Engineer, he previously served as a Lead Engineer at the University of Warwick and with Alert-iT Care Alarms, roles that honed his hands-on skills in developing custom electronic solutions.
With more than 15 years of expertise, JF excels at conceiving, designing, and implementing bespoke electronic systems, advanced sensors, and sophisticated instrumentation—bridging the gap between academic research and real-world industrial applications. He earned his M.Sc. in Electronic Engineering from De Montfort University in Leicester, UK, in 2012, and went on to complete a Ph.D. in Engineering at the University of Warwick in 2018.
His core research passions center on sensors, communication technologies, and the intelligent integration of systems within energy storage—particularly batteries and related technologies critical to electrification and sustainability. Fleming’s work focuses on embedding electronics and sensors directly into energy storage devices to create intelligent systems that provide real-time monitoring, diagnostics, and control. This approach has led to innovative methods for improving battery performance, safety, and longevity, including in-situ characterization techniques and collaborations like his Faraday Institution Industry Fellowship with FEV Group to enhance cell monitoring in battery modules.
Through projects in embedded systems and advanced instrumentation, he has contributed to a growing body of research that deepens the understanding of energy storage mechanisms and pushes performance boundaries. His efforts—often involving novel sensor applications like plasmonic fiber optics for diagnostics—help accelerate the development of smarter, more reliable batteries for electric vehicles, renewable energy, and beyond. With over 600 citations on Google Scholar and active involvement in centers like the Centre for E-Mobility and Clean Growth, JF continues to drive impactful advancements at the intersection of electronics, sensing, and sustainable energy technologies.