Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Physics and Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 1995
  • E.E., Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 1991
  • S.M., Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 1989
  • S.B., Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 1987
Licenses & Certifications
  • Certified Cardiovascular Industry Representative (CCIR)
  • Qualified for Welding and Electrofusion of Gas Pipe by the State of Alabama
  • Certified Laser Safety Officer (CLSO)
Professional Affiliations
  • Optical Society of America (OSA)
  • International Society for Optics and Photonics Engineers (SPIE)
  • Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
  • National Association of Fire Investigators (NAFI)
  • Laser Institute of America (LIA)
  • American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
  • Member of ANSI Z136.3 Standard Subcommittee (SSC-3), “Safe Use of Lasers in Health Care.”
  • Member of ANSI Z136.9 Standard Subcommittee (SSC-9), “Safe Use of Lasers in Manufacturing Environments.”
  • Member of ANSI Z136 Technical Subcommittee 1 (TSC1), “Biological Effects and Medical Surveillance.”

Dr. Brennan serves as a science and engineering technical consultant for hundreds of companies throughout the world that range from pre-revenue organizations to multi-national corporations.  He applies his physics and electrical engineering expertise to help clients solve complex multidisciplinary problems across a broad range of industries. He holds a Ph.D. in Physics and Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He was also trained in medical device development at Harvard Medical School and its affiliated hospitals.

Dr. Brennan has built and utilized electrical, optical, electromechanical, wireless, and radiation systems for use in several fields, such as medicine, communications, electricity production and transport, and manufacturing.  His expertise extends from static electric and magnetic fields, through radiation at frequencies of radio wave, microwave, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, and X-ray, and into radiation from radioactive sources.  He has specialized knowledge in the use and effects of electricity and radiation on the human body.

Dr. Brennan also has over 16 years of industry experience developing consumer products utilizing extended multidisciplinary technical teams.  He is the inventor of several technologies in optical, optical fiber, and laser systems, some of which started the Optical Transport business unit at 3M Company, Inc.  With this product development experience, he has helped clients evaluate and understand products and technologies for mergers and acquisitions, product development delays, and alleged misallocations of trade secrets.

Throughout his career, Dr. Brennan has addressed electrical, wireless, optical, and radiation medical systems for cosmetic, diagnostic, life-improving, and surgical applications. He worked on many cardiovascular devices, such as stents, transcutaneous coronary artery catheters, automatic external defibrillators (AED), ablation catheters, pacemakers, implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD), and electrocardiogram (ECG) ambulatory, hospital, and personal systems. He has also worked on neuromodulators, neurostimulators, and neuromonitors, including cochlear implants and spinal cord stimulators. Many of the medical devices that that he designed and analyzed are implantable and require batteries to function.

Dr. Brennan has also leveraged his electrical engineering expertise to help clients in diverse fields, such as solar panel production and installation, electric shock and electrocution accidents, laser machining, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and electromagnetic interference (EMI), optical fiber cable installations, heavy machinery control, electronic consumer products, and software analysis.

Dr. Brennan specializes in accident evaluation and prevention, root cause analysis, product development and validation, and intellectual property disputes. Dr. Brennan has testified as an expert in various litigation matters in state and federal courts. His expertise has also been utilized at the International Trade Commission (ITC), as an independent third party in submissions to federal agencies, and directly by industrial clients to evaluate and improve products or processes.  

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Brennan worked for eight years developing products for the sensor and communications industry at 3M Company, Inc., including optical fiber components, connectors, and devices for data centers.  He was also the Vice President of Research and Development at Raydiance, Inc., where he led the product development team that designed and built laser machining systems.  Dr. Brennan also previously served as the Chief Science Officer at Prescient Medical, Inc., where he designed and led the development of an optical catheter system for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease.

Dr. Brennan has authored more than 75 journal and conference papers and five book chapters and has 35 granted United States patents.

Project Experience

A representative sampling of devices and occurrences addressed by Dr. Brennan is listed below.

Medical Devices

  • Automatic external defibrillators (AED)
  • Blood pressure monitors
  • Cochlear implants
  • Dental drills
  • Dental gum laser surgery
  • Directed energy weapons (e.g., Tasers and shock belts)
  • Ear, nose, and throat (ENT) surgical guidance systems
  • EMC and EMI guidance
  • Endoscopic plasma and RF morcellators
  • Endotracheal tube fires
  • External neuromonitors
  • External neurostimulators, including TENS
  • Eyeglass lens positioners
  • Fungus removal laser systems
  • Hospital infusion pumps
  • Hospital patient monitoring systems
  • Hospital portable vacuum pumps
  • Implantable and external continuous glucose monitors (CGM)
  • Implantable cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) devices
  • Implantable spinal cord stimulators
  • Infrared thermometers
  • Intrauterine surgical and cosmetic systems
  • Laser catheter system for MRI-guided ablation in the brain
  • Laser devices (cosmetic, diagnostic, surgical)
  • Medical imaging
  • Microwave ablation systems
  • Optical coherence tomography in ophthalmology
  • Orthopedic robotic positioning devices
  • Otology surgical microscopes
  • Oximeters and capnography
  • Pacemakers
  • Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostic systems
  • Radio frequency (RF) electrosurgical systems (cosmetic and surgical)
  • Soft X-ray systems for treatment of skin cancer and keloids
  • Surgical tables
  • Ultrasonic ablation and healing devices
  • Ureteroscopes
  • Urinalysis diagnostic systems
  • Ventilators (ambulatory, personal, and hospital), including CPAP and BiPAP
  • Ventricular assist heart pumps
  • X-ray radiography system for breast cancer margin assessment
  • X-ray systems for cardiac catheterizations

Consumer Products and Industrial Equipment

  • Augmented and virtual reality devices
  • Automated clothing manufacturing
  • Electrical shock injuries and electrocutions
  • Enterprise headset development
  • Escalators
  • High pressure gas systems
  • Induction motor design
  • Laser range finders and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) systems
  • Laser safety and eye injuries
  • Motorized window blinds, beds, wheelchairs, and couches
  • Patient and prisoner tracking systems
  • Portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis of lead paint
  • Radon monitors
  • Real time temperature monitoring systems for shipping containers
  • Residential fire investigations
  • Security and theft prevention systems
  • Solar energy panel production and installation
  • Ultralow temperature freezers

Optical Fiber Cabling Manufacture and Installation

  • "Call before you dig" protocols
  • High density optical fiber connectors for data centers
  • High speed electrooptical modulators
  • Micro-trenching, duct installation, directional boring, and cable blowing
  • Optical cable storing and routing in connection boxes and underground vaults
  • Optical fiber damage assessments
  • Optical fiber fabrication
  • Optical fiber fusion splicers
  • Testing of optical cable installations

Intellectual Property Disputes

  • Alleged trade secret misallocation concerning headsets
  • District court disputes involving software written in C++, Objective-C, and Swift for ophthalmological and orthopedic systems
  • Internation trade commission (ITC) matters for RF microneedle cosmetic procedures and laser machining of fabrics
  • Several district court disputes involving cosmetic medical devices
  • Several Inter partes reviews (IPR) for optical fiber connectors, LiDAR systems, optical coherence tomography, and optical signage 

Prior Experience

Prescient Medical, Inc.

(Doylestown, PA)

Chief Science Officer:  July 2006 — December 2011

  • Member of executive team that managed $64M to develop products to prevent heart attacks, primarily by identifying and treating atherosclerotic plaques that are prone to rupture.  Developed a transcutaneous coronary diagnostic system, worked to prioritize the company's next products, and built a development plan for the product platform.  Created and maintained awareness and excitement for both the company and its technologies in the scientific & medical community and for potential partners through presentations, white papers, and publications.  Collaborated in the design, monitoring and output of pre-clinical and clinical trials. 
  • Specific accomplishments include the development of an optical catheter system that diagnosed coronary artery disease by utilizing Raman spectroscopy to identify and to quantify chemicals within artery walls.  Chemical information was obtained in real-time to identify thin-capped fibroatheromas (TCFA - vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques) and other histopathology in situ.  Marketing and product specifications were established by working closely with key opinion leaders, and then a development plan was implemented that entailed dividing the project into several major subunits, including a console with an optical engine, a fiber optic catheter, and software.  The project plan was implemented by an extended team of >100 members, which consisted of a combination of internal staff, academic laboratories, consultants, and subcontractors, that were located throughout North America and Europe.  Identified and acquired complementary technologies to the Raman catheter through licensing and technology transfer agreements to bolster product acceptance and designed a combination technology product.  An IP strategy was established, which included protecting several 2nd-generation catheter designs that combined Raman spectroscopy technology with other cardiovascular diagnostic modalities, such as optical coherence tomography.

Raydiance, Inc.

(Orlando, FL)

V.P. of Research and Development:  October 2004 — June 2006

  • Built, led, and managed the entire product development team in a pre-revenue environment to build high-power fiber laser systems that addressed the medical and military laser micromachining markets, reporting directly to the CEO and COO. 
  • Accomplishments played a large role in increasing the company valuation from $40M at Round B to $90M at Round C.  Hired by investors at Round B financing to realize the company vision, i.e. to build compact ultrashort pulse lasers at ablation-level energies with flexible user interfaces that are ready for OEM incorporation.  Assessed initial company technology, built technical capabilities and technical team, created and implemented a product roadmap, and established scalable business practices.  Steered company away from flawed initial technical paths towards an approach involving optical fiber amplifier systems and implemented this new approach by hiring specialist to train and work with the internal team.  Acquired expertise in high-power chirped-pulse fiber amplifier systems, solid-state optical amplifiers, and specialized fiber delivery systems.  Was the technical lead for existing government programs and crafted new government proposals where the work mapped directly onto the company technical roadmap.  Identified Bragg fiber technology as a potentially disruptive technology, implemented IP strategy to protect technology, and obtained funding for feasibility work at a university and for internalizing the technology.  Established requirements needed to address certain markets for ultrashort pulse laser requirements for non-thermal ablation and thus drove guidelines for initial product and subsequent releases, and steered product development to completion, resulting in several recognitions and awards for the product and corporation, including the "Red Herring 100 North America" award and a finalist in the "Most Innovative Company" category in the 2008 American Business Awards. 
  • Developed and implemented an IP strategy by working closely with a prominent San Jose legal firm that specializes in startup companies. Evaluated and organized prior patent filings, implemented a record-of-invention filing and evaluation process, trained a new patent liaison, educated technical team on IP and the patenting process, and aided the transition of the patent portfolio to a new legal firm.  50+ inventions filed internally by technical team in year 2005, which were triaged and converted to ~2 patents applications filed per month.

3M Company, Inc.

(Austin, TX)

Sr. Research Specialist:  August 1996 — September 2004

  • Built and established a laboratory to develop passive optical components that addressed the telecommunications and sensor industries, which became the cornerstone of the Optical Components business unit. 
  • Began employment in a staff laboratory and studied several issues related to fiber Bragg grating fabrication to improve their quality and to increase production yields, such as hydrogen diffusion in silica, fiber fixturing, fiber photosensitivity, ultraviolet-induced optical loss, and optical and mechanical lifetime issues.  Invented a direct-write technology for producing fiber gratings of arbitrary reflectivity profiles and lengths and utilized the method to make chromatic dispersion compensators for use in long-haul communications systems.  Devised and executed an intellectual property strategy for protecting the technology, which became a platform technology, including process, device, and application patent filings.  Brought the technology into a business unit and developed products around it.  Led technical team of >50 scientist and engineers on a multimillion-dollar development effort to bring product into manufacturing and through Telcordia testing.  Interacted with hundreds of customers throughout N. America, Europe, and SE Asia (Japan, China, & Singapore) to discern their needs and directed internal laboratory efforts to address technical gaps.  One product won the 2002 Photonics Circle of Excellence award from Photonics Spectra for one of the 25 most technically innovative products of the year and was also nominated by Fiberoptic Product News for the 2001 technology award.
  • Specific technical accomplishments include designing and building systems to make multimeter length fiber gratings, which involved custom low rotational-velocity rotary induction motors and control systems, ultra-precision machined components (10 microinch), exacting air-bearing translation stages and controls, interferometers, and software control.  Construction of these manufacturing systems spawned several other inventions, such as function generators capable of an unlimited number of <10 mHz steps, fabrication methods of co-propagating mode fiber couplers, and fiber handling devices.  Other technical accomplishments included building hydrogenation system capable of 30,000 p.s.i. pressures, understanding the optical properties of fibers exposed to extreme environments, and establishing a 10 Gbit/s optical telecommunication test system. 
  • Principal investigator on a DARPA subcontract that employed chirped pulse amplification and semiconductor optical amplifiers to produce high-peak-power femtosecond-duration light pulses for laser micromachining and concurrently led efforts within 3M to make products utilizing this technology, including market and IP assessment. Other general responsibilities included identifying and evaluating new technology, serving as a laser safety officer, assessing the capabilities of potential acquisitions, and acting as a university liaison and initiating collaborations. 

Academisch Ziekenhuis

(Leiden, The Netherlands)

Erasmus Universiteit

(Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

Independent consultant:  March 1996 — August 1996

  • Provided technical consulting for development of Raman spectroscopy systems for human tissue studies.  Conceived and started a research plan for Leiden University that led to several articles and a Ph.D. thesis for one student.

G. R. Harrison Spectroscopy Laboratory, M.I.T.

(Cambridge, MA)

Postdoctoral scientist:  August 1995 — March 1996

Research assistant:  January 1991 — August 1995

  • Conceived and developed signal processing algorithms to extract quantitative biochemical information about human tissue with near infrared Raman spectroscopy.  Invented an optical fiber probe that uses a compound parabolic concentrator to increase significantly light collection.  Designed and built electro-optical instrumentation for Raman and laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy, including photodiode arrays, CCD systems and PdSi focal plane arrays.  Used Raman scattering and laser-induced fluorescence to diagnose various pathologies, including various cancers and atherosclerosis.  Conducted research independently and gained general experience with optics, nonimaging optics, laser systems, turbid media, probabilistic systems, light-matter interactions, and biomedical engineering.

M.I.T. Continuum Electromechanics Laboratory

(Cambridge, MA)

Teaching assistant:  September 1990 - December 1990

Research assistant:  January 1990 - September 1

  • Investigated momentum transfer mechanisms in electro-rheological fluids.  Conceived, designed, and implemented unique couette viscometer to simultaneously measure normal and tangential stresses within ER fluids.

Head teaching assistant:  September 1989 - December 1989

  • Assisted Prof. Hermann A. Haus in teaching class entitled "Electromagnetic Fields and Energy".  Managed teaching assistants and conducted interactive mini-lectures weekly.  Acted as substitute lecturer.

Lincoln Laboratory

(Lexington, MA)

Radar analyst:  May 1989 - September 1989

  • Proposed and implemented various methods for determining material makeup of exo-atmospheric objects through analysis of microwave radar returns. 

M.I.T. High Voltage Research Laboratory

(Cambridge, MA)

Research assistant:  May 1987 — May 1989

  • Discovered unusual optical phenomena associated with molten polymers.  Investigated charge migration in  polyethylene under high voltage stressed situations by  utilizing Kerr elecro-optical measurement techniques.

Undergraduate Research Assistant: May 1986 - May 1987

  • Automated Kerr electro-optical field mapping measurements with an image digitizer installed in an IBM PC.  Contributed to the understanding of electric charge movement in polymethylmethacrylate.

Lexicon, Inc.

(Cambridge, MA)

Junior engineer:  May 1985 - August 1985

Softbridge Microsystems, Inc.

(Cambridge, MA)

Software engineer:  December 1984 - February 1985