Oscar Neyra-Nazarrett

Dr. Oscar A. Neyra-Nazarrett is a technology translation strategist, and entrepreneur working at the intersection of national security, and climate technologies. He serves as Strategy Director for Technology Transition at the Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence ADAC-ARCTIC, where he supports the transition of emerging technologies into government and operational use for Arctic and homeland security applications. He is the university lead of the National Science Foundation I-Corps program at the University of Southern California, helping researchers translate breakthrough research into commercially viable ventures.

In parallel with his technology transition work, Oscar supports venture investment and startup commercialization efforts. He sourced the first investment in the startup Quantum Elements, wrote the first angel check into {Set} Robotics, and first investment proposal to Mesa Quantum, helping identify and support high-potential deep technology companies at their earliest stages.

Previously, Oscar founded Lisus, a climate technology company focused on resilient battery supply chains and critical minerals. As Founder and CEO, he led product strategy, software development, fundraising, customer acquisition, and intellectual property strategy. Under his leadership, Lisus graduated from the Harvard Innovation Labs, secured venture capital financing, raised money from top investors and accelerators like Techstars, established pilot projects with publicly traded industrial companies, secured a multi-year multimillion-dollar commercial contract, and ultimately achieved an exit within five years.

Earlier in his career, Oscar conducted published research at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory under the mentorship of Dr. Kevin Bowman and Dr. Kazuyuki Miyazaki, where he developed methods for combining multi-satellite observations to study atmospheric chemistry and large-scale combustion events. This joint effort won the NASA’s FIREX-AQ Group achievement award.

He holds a Doctoral degree in Environmental Science and Engineering from UCLA IoES, a Master’s degree in Homeland Security from the University of Southern California, and pursued Master studies in Global Security at Johns Hopkins University. Oscar enjoys time with family, running at the beach, and playing with his dogs Maca and Dojo. He speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French.