Meet the Team

 LED Lighting Advisors is led by Monica Hansen, Ph.D.  She is an industry expert in solid state lighting (SSL) with a strong technical background and understanding of market dynamics.  Monica has 17 years in GaN-based semiconductors with a strong focus in light emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes.  During her 13 year tenure with Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE), a leading LED manufacturer, she worked in product development of LEDs in all areas of the value chain from metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and LED chip fabrication to LED package design and LED light fixture development. 

In addition to her product development work, Monica has experience in winning and managing government research contracts including developing research strategies and managing technical and operational work on contracts and government relations.  She brought in $12M in new government research contracts in her 6 years as a Contracts Manager at Cree, Inc. 

Monica has authored and co-authored numerous scientific, peer-reviewed articles related to GaN semiconductors.  She is an inventor on a number of US and foreign patents related to GaN-based LED and laser diode device design.  Monica holds a Ph.D. from the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) in Materials; she studied under professors Steven DenBaars and James Speck.  She graduated magna cum ladue with a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Arizona.