Industry Experts
Phillip Hollingsworth, Senior Technical Engineer, Universal Robots Inc.
Philip Hollingsworth is a Sr. Technical Support Engineer with over 30 years of engineering experience. His training in Mechanical Engineering, but his experiences quickly move him toward electo-mechanical, automation, and robotics design, applications and sales engineering. He has worked for Rockwell International as a stress analysis engineer, Parker Hannifin as a hydraulics/pneumatics project engineer, California Linear Devices as an electro-mechanical engineering manager, and now Universal Robots for the past 5 years in both technical sales and support roles. In addition, he has worked as an independent engineering consultant. He has been working with UR robots as long as anyone in the US market.
Kristin Lennox, Technical Head of Industrial IOT, Beyond Limits
Kristin Lennox is technical head for industrial internet of things and a principal data scientist at Beyond Limits. She has 10+ years of experience in applying data science and operations research to science, engineering, and manufacturing challenges. She’s passionate about bringing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to industry and generally improving the relationships between computers and people.
She received her PhD in statistics from Texas A&M University followed by post-doctoral and staff appointments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. She founded and led the LLNL statistical consulting service for 3+ years before leaving to work in supply chain operations at GE Aviation. At Beyond Limits, her focus is on leading teams developing cognitive AI solutions for manufacturing, logistics, and robotics.

Melanie Strickland, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Slingshot Aerospace Inc.
Melanie is responsible for the technical vision and strategy of the company to revolutionize data exploitation for defense and commercial applications. She possesses a unique blend of leadership and technical expertise in combat operations and innovative space system development garnered from her time in the Department of Defense. Melanie is retired from the United States Air Force where she was responsible for Space Control and Battle Management integration across mission areas to increase the Nation’s ability to protect and defend space capabilities against emerging threats. As well, during her 21-year career in the Department of Defense she logged over 1500 flight hours onboard the E-8C JSTARS, and led the development and deployment of experimental spacecraft, electronic warfare and cyber technologies. Melanie is a champion for STEM initiatives and enjoys inspiring under privileged youth and young women to pursue their dreams. Melanie holds a B.S.in Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a M.S. in Space Systems Operations Management with an emphasis in Systems Engineering from Webster University.