Micro Journeys: The Pulse of What’s Next

In this episode of Micro Journeys Inside Access, host Daniel Marrujo sits down with Mvemba Dizolele, Managing Director, Dizolele Advisory at the African Land Forces Summit to explore a continent often misunderstood by the outside world. Dizolele, a professor at Johns Hopkins SAIS, former senior fellow and director of the Africa Program at CSIS, and host of his own Africa Program podcast, brings de...

In this episode of Micro Journeys Inside Access, host Daniel Marrujo takes viewers behind the scenes of one of the most advanced scientific facilities in the United States — the National Synchrotron Light Source 2 (NSLS2) at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, New York. Joined by Denise Olds from the NSLS2 communications team and a leading beamline scientist, Daniel walks the experiment...

In this episode of Micro Journeys Inside Access , host Daniel Marrujo sits down with Colonel Keagan McLeese, call sign "Waldo", commander of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing and Beale Air Force Base, recorded just two days before McLeese hands over command and flies his final mission as an Air Force pilot. The conversation traces his path from a teenager earning his private pilot's license to the cockp...

In this episode of Micro Journeys Inside Access, host Daniel Marrujo takes viewers inside one of the most quietly powerful demonstrations at African Lion 2026 in Tan Tan, Morocco. Joined by Staff Sergeant Thalia Gonzalez, Master Sergeant Michael Patterson, and Airman First Class Caleb Hilton, Daniel gets an up-close look at the Wave Relay MPU-5, a compact networking and radio device configured to...

In this episode of Micro Journeys Inside Access, host Daniel Marrujo sits down with Chief Warrant Officer 4 Eric Barker on the ground at African Lion 2026 in Morocco for an unfiltered look at one of the most capable reconnaissance tools in the U.S. military's current arsenal. What started as Daniel spotting a drone descending from a ship in the ocean turned into an exclusive walkthrough of the Qua...

In this episode of Micro Journeys, host Daniel Marrujo sits down with Hap Harlow, Director of the Defense Cooperation Division for Army Forces Africa, live from the Africa Land Forces Summit in Rome, Italy. Hap brings a rare and grounded perspective on the intersection of defense, economics, and global investment, unpacking why Africa — often mischaracterized as an untapped continent — is in fact...

In this episode of Micro Journeys, host Daniel Marrujo sits down with Chief Warrant Officer 4 Bryan Duncan, Chief Technical Advisor for Africom J6, on the ground at African Lion 2026 in Morocco. Chief Duncan pulls back the curtain on how a small, specialized team is integrating commercial and military technology into a single agnostic cloud platform — enabling real-time data sharing across U.S. fo...

In this episode of Micro Journeys, host Daniel Marrujo takes listeners on a rare, behind-the-scenes journey inside Brookhaven National Laboratory, a 5,300-acre federal research facility located in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. Joined by Daniel Marx, Accelerator Physicist, and Alex Jentsch, Associate Staff Scientist, Daniel steps inside one of the most secured and scientifically significan...

In this episode of Micro Journeys: Inside Access, host Daniel Marrujo travels to Tantan, Morocco, embedded alongside the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team at African Lion — one of the largest multinational military exercises in the world. Daniel sits down with Captain Vincent Gasparri, a West Point-trained nuclear engineer who leads the Bayonet Innovation Team, a unit dedicated full-time to integ...

In this episode of Micro Journeys, host Daniel Marrujo sits down with two of the most quietly consequential figures in U.S. military operations in Africa — Lieutenant Colonel Kyle Thomason, Provost Marshal for the Southern European Task Force Africa, and Lydia Benyam, Lab Manager for the Joint Theater Forensic Analysis Center, or JTFAC, located at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti. Recorded live at the A...

In this episode of Micro Journeys, host Daniel Marrujo sits down with Barry Broome, CEO of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council (GSEC), for a wide-ranging conversation that traces one of the most unlikely and compelling careers in American economic leadership. From a blue-collar upbringing in Ohio shaped by Marine veterans, Irish immigrant values, and a deep sense of civic duty, to running gang...

Daniel Marrujo sits down with Lokesh Sikaria, Managing Partner at Moneta Ventures, to unpack the intersection of technology, business, and venture capital. From his early days growing up in India to studying at UC Berkeley and rising through the ranks of consulting and executive leadership, Lokesh shares how his journey shaped a unique perspective: technology alone is never enough. The conversatio...

In this episode of Micro Journeys , host Daniel Marrujo sits down with Rehan Kapadia to explore the intersection of imagination, engineering, and access in the world of microelectronics. From a childhood shaped by science fiction to a career at the forefront of semiconductor innovation, Kapadia shares how exponential technological growth is turning once-impossible ideas into reality. The conversat...

From a childhood moment of curiosity that quite literally sparked with a jolt of electricity, Randy Sandhu’s journey into microelectronics unfolds as both deeply personal and globally significant. In this episode, he sits down with Daniel Marrujo to trace his path from a curious six-year-old tinkering with electronics to a leader shaping the future of semiconductor innovation at Northrop Grumman....

In this episode of Micro Journeys , host Daniel Marrujo sits down with Nicholas Fahrenkopf at GOMAC Tech to explore the cutting edge of microelectronics, from nanotechnology and silicon photonics to quantum systems. Fahrenkopf shares his unconventional journey into the field—sparked by a fascination with nanobots and inspired by Richard Feynman—and unpacks how today’s semiconductor innovations are...

In this episode of Micro Journeys , host Daniel Marrujo sits down with Dr. Whitney Mason of DARPA to explore how breakthrough technologies are born at the edge of what’s considered possible. From her early curiosity as a physicist in Oklahoma to leading ambitious programs in DARPA’s Microsystems Technology Office (MTO), Mason shares the journey that led her to work on some of the most challenging...

Ethan Sabin, an accomplished U.S. Air Force fighter pilot and leader, joins Daniel Marrujo to share a gripping journey from childhood inspiration to high-stakes combat operations. From watching fighter pilot movies as a kid to flying the A-10 Warthog in Afghanistan, Sabin walks through the defining moments that shaped his career. The episode captures the intensity of close air support missions, th...

In this episode of TSS Podcast: Micro Journeys , host Daniel Marrujo sits down with Corrine Kramer to explore the intersection of national security, data architecture, and technological transformation. From her academic roots in physics and astronomy to her work across the defense ecosystem — including IDA, the Congressional Budget Office, and now Palantir — Kramer shares a journey shaped by one c...

James Chew joins Daniel Marrujo on Micro Journeys to trace a career that spans Cal Poly’s hands-on engineering culture, the golden age of aerospace in Lancaster, California, senior leadership roles inside the Pentagon, and now a pivotal role at Intel during one of the most consequential semiconductor inflection points in U.S. history. From revitalizing rocket propulsion programs to navigating bill...

In this episode of Micro Journeys , host Daniel Marrujo sits down with Dr. Mark Lewis for a sweeping conversation that traces the arc of a career spanning academia, the Pentagon, and now applied national security research. From serving as Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force to leading modernization efforts in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Lewis reflects on the pivotal moments that resh...

Rory McInerney’s journey mirrors the rise of modern computing itself. From growing up in Ireland to becoming a senior leader at Intel during some of the most transformative decades in semiconductor history, Rory shares how curiosity, risk-taking, and timing shaped a 30-year career at the center of global technology. Along the way, he reflects on immigration, innovation, and what it truly means to...

In this episode of Micro Journeys , host Daniel Marrujo sits down with David Harris to explore how endurance, curiosity, and systems-level thinking shaped a career that spans elite athletics, financial regulation, global markets, and emerging technology. From an unlikely start as a walk-on collegiate runner to leadership roles inside the SEC, NASDAQ, and the London Stock Exchange Group, Harris sha...

In this episode of Micro Journeys , Daniel Marrujo sits down with John Hill to explore a career shaped by curiosity, large-scale science, and the pursuit of understanding matter at its most fundamental level. From Hill’s early fascination with space and science in England to his leadership at Brookhaven National Laboratory, the conversation traces how passion, global ambition, and national-scale r...

In this episode of Micro Journeys , Daniel Marrujo sits down with Rear Admiral Lorin Selby to explore a career shaped by resilience, curiosity, and technological foresight. What begins as a childhood dream of becoming an astronaut takes an unexpected turn, ultimately leading Selby into the silent service of submarines and a decades-long journey at the intersection of leadership, engineering, and n...

In this episode of Micro Journeys , host Daniel Marrujo sits down with Jonny Pellish, a lifelong explorer of physics, microelectronics, NASA missions, and federal policy. Jonny traces a remarkable path—from philosophy major to particle physics researcher, to NASA radiation effects engineer, to shaping national technology policy on Capitol Hill and inside the Executive Office of the President. Thro...