Melisa Buie makes lasers and solves problems. She is the Corporate Director for Lean Operational Excellence at Coherent, Inc., a $2B global photonics solutions company, where she works on both engineering and business problems. She has extensive experience in operations and engineering, lean manufacturing, and global implementation.  

Prior to joining Coherent, Melisa was a Member of the Technical Staff and an Engineering Manager at Applied Materials, Inc. and Advanced Energy. She also worked as a Research Scientist for Science Applications International Corporation working at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. where she made theoretical lasers.