The Optical Society Names Nader Engheta the 2020 Max Born Award Recipient

The Optical Society Names Nader Engheta the 2020 Max Born Award Recipient

The Optical Society (OSA) has named Nader Engheta, H. Nedwill Ramsey Professor in the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, as the 2020 recipient of the Max Born Award.

Engheta, who also has appointments in the departments of Bioengineering and Materials Science and Engineering, is honored for pioneering contributions to optical metamaterials and nanoscale optics.

“The Born Award recognizes Nader Engheta’s exceptional contributions to the fields of metamaterials, transformation optics and nanophotonics,” said 2020 OSA President Stephen D. Fantone, founder and president of Optikos Corporation. “This honor is emblematic of the pioneering work he has done in near-zero index metamaterials.”

Nader Engheta received his B.S. degree from the University of Tehran, Iran and M.S and Ph.D. degrees from Caltech, USA. He has received honorary doctoral degrees from Aalto University, Finland, University of Stuttgart, Germany and Kharkov Polytechnic Institute, Ukraine.

Engheta is one of the original pioneers of the field of metamaterials, beginning with his early work in the 1980s on complex and chiral media, and continuing with his many contributions to optics and electrodynamics. These include: the development of the fields of near-zero-index optics, optical nanocircuitry and analog computing using materials, plasmonic cloaking, and one-atom-thick metamaterials. His current research activities span a broad range of areas including photonics, metamaterials, nanoscale optics, microwaves, graphene optics, imaging and sensing inspired by eyes of animal species, microwave and optical antennas and physics and engineering of fields and waves. He has received several awards for his research including the SPIE Gold Medal, IEEE Pioneer Award in Nanotechnology, URSI Balthasar van der Pol Gold medal, IEEE Electromagnetics Award, William Streifer Scientific Achievement Award, Ellis Island Medal of Honor, Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship Award, US National Academy of Inventors and Canadian Academy of Engineering. He is a Fellow of OSA, APS, IEEE, MRS, SPIE, AAAS, and URSI.

Established in 1982, the Max Born Award recognizes outstanding contributions to physical optics, theoretical or experimental. It honors Max Born, who made distinguished contributions to physics in general and optics in particular. It is endowed by the United Technologies Research Center, Physical Optics Corporation, and individuals including Joseph Goodman.