Fierce Electronics proudly announces the final group of honorees in the inaugural 40 Under 40 awards program. These awards are timed with the 40th anniversary of Sensors Converge being held June 24-26 in Santa Clara, CA.
The Fierce Electronics 40 Under 40 recognizes individuals under 40 who are driving advancements in technology, pushing boundaries and shaping the future of electronics with their creativity, expertise and impact. Additional nominees have been named in recent weeks in no particular order.
The entire class will honored at Sensors Converge 2025, celebrating its 40th anniversary June 24-26 in Santa Clara, CA. NOTE: Access all honoree profiles at the 40 Under 40 tab on the home page.
Ruchi Upadhyay
Age 30
Senior Product Marketing Manager
STMicroelectronics
Ruchi Upadhyay is a Senior Technical Marketing Manager in camera and lidar solutions at STMicroelectronics with a degree in Electrical Engineering from San Jose State University. Her career includes driving innovations at Fortune 500 companies, integrating advanced features such as face identification and smart presence detection. At a consumer wearables company, her advocacy for Human Presence Detection yielded significant results within a year, boosting customer engagement and design wins. A distinguished speaker at Sensors Converge, Ruchi shares insights on technology trends. She champions diversity as a Women in Leadership facilitator and leads Women in STEM initiatives, even sharing the stage with Fremont Mayor Lilly Mei to empower women in tech. She has strategic acumen, relationship-building skills, and commitment to inclusivity.
Irina Zernova
Formal Verification Engineer
Nvidia
Irina Zernova is a Hardware Verification Engineer at Nvidia, a position she has held five years. Previously, she worked at Mellanox Technologies until it was acquired by Nvidia in 2020. She is based in Yokneam, Israel, working as part of a hardware verification team to support production of network interface cards and switches used in building supercomputers. She works with architects and designers to ensure their hardware code is working as expected. The team dives deep into designs to catch bugs early, making it easier to fix them. She and her husband left Russia in 2017 for Israel, where she picked up Hebrew. She holds a computer science degree from National Research Nuclear University in Moscow.
Abishek Sharma
Age 37
Advanced Memory Pathfinding
Intel Foundry
Abhishek A. Sharma received a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 2015 and serves as a key innovator at Intel Foundry’s Technology Research team. He has advanced semiconductor memory technology, focusing on RRAM, eDRAM, ferroelectric materials, and novel transistor architectures for eDRAM scaling. Now in Intel Foundry’s Process Technology Development group, he leads efforts to develop new memory technologies for high-volume manufacturing, shaping Intel’s memory scaling and 3D integration roadmap for client, graphics, and datacenter products. With over 50 publications and 1,000-plus citations, his work has significantly impacted the field.
Abhay Gulati
Age 34
RF/OTA Systems Integration Engineer
Apple
As a Senior Wireless Engineer with over a decade at Apple, Abhay Gulati has led the development of OTA test stations to validate RF system performance and hardware, while creating a comprehensive software suite for testing Apple’s wireless devices. With expertise in cellular technology—from 3G to 5G NR and satellite communication standards—he has significantly contributed to defining chipset specifications for features like Emergency SOS and Find My (UWB). His work on 5G, LTE, satellite communication, and GPS has shaped Apple’s wireless ecosystem and influenced consumer electronics. Beyond technical contributions, he has served as a judge for the Globee Awards for Technology and Leadership, demonstrating his ability to evaluate industry excellence. As an IEEE Senior Member, he is dedicated to fostering innovation and recognizing technological achievements.
Bo-Christopher Redfearn
Age 30
Hardware Test Engineer
Apple
Bo-Christopher Redfearn is an experienced test engineer specializing in sensor technology for autonomous vehicles, including lidar and cameras. He focuses on ensuring sensor reliability and precision with expertise in root cause and failure analysis and helps drive advancements in sensor testing methodologies to enhance autonomous vehicle performance and innovation. He recently took contract work for Apple and previously worked at Meta and Cruise. He holds an MS in Computer Science from Arizona State University and a BS in Electrical Engineering from San Jose State University.