Master of Invention
By Emily Raij
Lasers, Mars spectrometers, and self-driving cars. No, these are not futuristic creations for the next sci-fi novel. They’re just a few of the very real contributions Jason Eichenholz, Ph.D., has worked on throughout his 25-year career in technology – a career that earned him induction into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame this past October.
Jason Eichenholz, a recent inductee into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame.
Although Jason’s inventions and impact on society are fact and not fiction, he does view his work much like a story. “I look at my life as three very distinct chapters,” says the 52-yearold Jason, who has more than 80 patents in his portfolio.
The first chapter encompasses Jason’s education and formal technical training, which includes earning his master’s degree and Ph.D. in optical science and engineering at University of Central Florida’s College of Optics and Photonics (CREOL). At CREOL, he is also a courtesy faculty member who helps supervise and mentor Ph.D. students.
Chapter two is Jason’s work as cofounder and chief technology officer at Orlando-based Luminar Technologies, a sensing technology company developing vision-based lidar (light detection and ranging) and machine perception technologies, mainly for self-driving cars – also known as autonomous vehicles. Luminar is also advancing research in early cancer detection, environmental studies from the oceans to the moon, and military explosives detection.
“At Luminar, our goal over the next 100 years is to save 100 million lives and to give people back 100 trillion hours,” says Jason. “When we have gotten our technology deployed, we are going to save a lot of lives. At the same time we’re unlocking self-driving and autonomy, we are going to provide a cocoon of proactive safety around these vehicles and make cars safer
Laser Focus
The prologue to Jason’s story, which foreshadowed his later success, begins with his childhood in Greenfield, Massachusetts. He knew in 10th grade that he wanted to work with lasers after a physics teacher conducted a memorable experiment that sent a red laser beam across the classroom. After that, Jason built his own vibration isolation table with 1,600 pounds of sand to complete laser holography experiments in his family’s basement. Working on a project as an undergraduate student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Jason realized he could be a professional scientist. Toward that end, a professor suggested UCF’s CREOL graduate program, and Jason moved to Orlando in 1993 to start on his master’s degree and later his Ph.D. Armed with a strong educational foundation, Jason’s entrepreneurial spirit grew.
“My definition for an entrepreneur is someone who can see something around a corner,” Jason said in a video for the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame. “But I had a much, much bigger passion in technology. And I knew that if I could focus my career in technology and also somehow merge technology with business and entrepreneurship, it would be a fun ride. I finally got tired of being in companies where I couldn’t convince the executives in those companies that what I saw around the corner was a viable business opportunity.”
One very successful business opportunity for Jason was Open Photonics, which he founded to accelerate the commercialization of optics and photonics technologies. The company was later acquired by Luminar Technologies, which went public in 2020.
“Raising a billion in capital, taking the company public – that chapter ended pretty well,” says Jason. “So my chapter three is moving from reputation building to legacy building, moving from success to significance.”
The Reason Why
Chapter three of Jason’s life feels more reflective than the first two. This is the part of the story where Jason gets to give back and pursue his passion for autism awareness and inclusion as the founder of the forthcoming Jonathan’s Landing. The comprehensive community for adults with autism is named after Jason’s 18-year-old son Jonathan. (J Life readers may remember our Spring 2021 publication in which we featured Meals with Jonathan, a program Jason started during the pandemic to give his son opportunities for social interaction while teaching others about autism.) The mission of Jonathan’s Landing is “to relentlessly pursue housing and employment solutions that provide a life of dignity, meaning, and purpose for adults with autism and give parents peace knowing their child is safe and happy.” With space for 500 residents, Jonathan’s Landing will be the largest community of its kind in the world.
Jason with his kids, Ella and Jonathan.
Even Jason’s work at Luminar connects back to his passion for autism awareness and inclusion. In a December 2019 commencement address Jason gave at UCF, he explained that his motivation for working on self-driving cars was to provide safe, accessible transportation for Jonathan, who may never get his driver’s license. As Jason says, that is the “why.”
A resident of Baldwin Park, Jason gives back to his community in other ways too. Since 1990, he has been a reserve firefighter and EMT for Orange County Fire Rescue. He is a member of Congregation Ohev Shalom and supports Central Florida Hillel. Besides working at Luminar and on Jonathan’s Landing, Jason enjoys spending time with Jonathan and 16-year-old daughter Ella, as well as traveling and boating.
“I’ve done some pretty amazing things,” says Jason. “I have three spectrometers on Mars as part of the Curiosity rover. About a year ago, I participated in a NASA mission and flew in a NASA jet and flight suit at 40,000 feet to study re-entry. I did not envision this kind of life. I did not expect to give a commencement address, to build Jonathan’s Landing, but I had an opportunity to give back in a way most people could not.” All of that makes for a pretty good story.
From left to right above: Jason with fellow firefighter Steven Botwinik, Jason, with his proud parents, at the ceremony for his Entrepreneurial Vanguard Award from Junior Achievement of Central Florida, and Jason with one of Luminar’s autonomous vehicles.
This story was originally published in print in Winter 2023.