Overview

Gender

male

Alfred A. Zinn is founder and CTO of Kuprion Inc. Prior to his founding of Kuprion, Dr. Zinn was a Lockheed Martin Fellow in the Advanced Materials and Nanosystems directorate at the Advanced Technology Center (ATC), Lockheed Martin Space System Company, in Palo Alto, CA. In this role, Alfred was responsible for the development of nanostructured functional materials (optical, thermal, nano/micro-magnetics), smart materials, high-temperature materials systems, device physics modeling, quantum/ superlattice structures and devices, and high performance energy conversion devices (solar, high & low quality heat conversion). His role included identifying profitable adjacencies and licensing opportunities for new technologies and help bring them to market. In addition, he mentored young emerging talent to strengthen the department’s work force and diversity.

Alfred currently holds a total of 24 patents in materials, structures and processing technologies and THz technology, with multiple international filings (Europe, India, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore) and a number of additional patents pending as well as four trade secrets and one trademark (CuantumFuseTM). He has authored or co-authored over 30 archival journal publications, including book chapters in “The Chemistry of Metal CVD” as well as the “Encyclopedia of Inorganic Chemistry.” Over the past two decades, he has presented his technical results and accomplishments at national and international Conferences.

Prior to Lockheed, Alfred was a member of the pioneering ESA Startiger project, where he helped develop a compact (desktop-size) real-time THz imager and supported a field emitter development effort as a materials and processing consultant. Before that, he held positions at the Ultramet Corp. in Pacoima, CA, where he worked on multiple SBIR programs focused on high-temperature, corrosion-resistant materials and systems (ceramic foams and composites) and was a senior scientist in the Materials and Process Department at the Boeing Corporation in Huntington Beach, CA; his work there involved development of shuttle tile thermal protection system (TPS) technologies, which resulted in two NASA Tech Brief awards and two patents.