Elliot Eichen grew up in New York City. Between high school and college, he visited Boulder (and had his first beer) as a volunteer on a trail crew in Rocky Mountain National Park. He has a BS in physics from SUNY Stony Brook, a PhD in optics from The University of Arizona, and an MBA from Boston University.
Elliot spent the majority of his career at GTE Labs (quantum optics and optoelectronics) and at Genuty/Verizon Labs (wireless networks and service development). He retired as Director of R&D at Verizon in 2017. From 2018-2019 Elliot was an IEEE/AAAS Congressional Fellow working for Senator Ron Wyden, and supporting Senate Commerce and House Science Committees. His academic appointments (concurrent with industry positions) include Visiting Industry Professor (Tufts University), Adjunct (Northeastern University), and staff member (MIT); his students are employed by major carriers, MSOs, and ISPs in the United States, many equipment vendors and communication systems providers, and multiple startups.
Elliot is the author or co-author of about 60 peer-reviewed publications, and about 70 US patents. Elliot’s current interests are spectrum sharing and management, qubit-resistant cyber security, and 5G/6G communications.