Biotechnology company Hamilton Thorne appointed Ekaterina Torchilin as its new president and CEO, effective Jan. 15. Torchilin succeeds David Wolf, who is retiring as president and CEO. Wolf will continue to serve in his executive chairman role. Upon assuming the CEO role, Torchilin will join Hamilton Thorne’s board of directors. Torchilin currently serves as president of the Biologicals and Chemicals division at Thermo Fisher Scientific. WASHINGTON, D.C. — Optica and the IEEE Photonics Society have named David Richardson, deputy director of the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton as the 2024 recipient of the John Tyndall Award. Richardson is recognized for his pioneering contributions to the development of optical fibers and their applications, and commercialization in fiber. Richardson will receive the award at OFC 2024 where he is scheduled to give a plenary speech on “Emerging Fiber Technologies for Future Optical Networks.” GOLETA, Calif. — Aeluma, a semiconductor company specializing in scalable technology for lidar, communications, and sensing, appointed Craig Ensley to its board of directors. Ensley’s prior executive leadership roles include CEO of Atomica (formerly IMT), CEO of DisplayLink, President of Peregrine, and SVP at Cirrus Logic. Ensley presently serves on the Boards of Mentium Technologies, an AI company, and the MEMS & Sensors Industry Group. Previously he was on the Boards of the Consumer Electronics Association Audio and Home Networking Divisions, and the KLRU Austin PBS Television Station.