Mara Schindelholz joined the U.S. National Science Foundation as a SBIR/STTR program director in 2023. Mara is also a principal research and development staff member at Sandia National Laboratories, where she has developed sensor diagnostics and advanced digital technologies for the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense. Prior to joining Sandia, Mara was a senior materials research engineer at Luna Innovations (now Luna Labs) and a consultant for ElectraWatch (since acquired by Austal USA). In both positions, she worked on and led DoD SBIR programs to develop and commercialize diagnostic sensing and predictive materials models. Mara received her master’s in materials science and engineering and a bachelor’s in chemistry from the University of Virginia.