Alumni

Thousands of people are seeing more clearly thanks in part to the vision of Vadim Smirnov,’02 MS, whose research group played an integral role in the development of lasers that revolutionized cataract surgery. Local optical component manufacturer OptiGrate Corp was approached by a medical laser company more than 10 years ago with a request to…

Brian Lawrence ’97PhD sees problems as opportunities. A self-described “experimentalist at heart,” Lawrence ran into plenty of problems in seventh grade when he built a power supply to power a donated HeNe laser tube to explore his curiosity about lasers. Those problems became learning opportunities that led him to eventually assemble more powerful ruby crystal…

Sarun Sumriddetchkajorn ’00, Ph.D., has built an impressive career in optics and photonics following his doctorate graduation in 2000. In an interview with CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics, Sumriddetchkajorn shares his career path and advice for current students. (Answers edited for clarity and length.)  CREOL: What started your path toward optics and photonics?…

Ramy El-Ganainy, Ph.D., is a recipient of the prestigious Humboldt Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers. The fellowship spans 18 months, divided over three years. He will be hosted by Professor Kurt Busch at Berlin’s Humboldt University. The fellowship allows El-Ganainy to closely collaborate with the theoretical and experimental photonics groups in the host institute, and…

By LAURA COLE UCF was selected to receive four awards from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office, the most of any university this year. The awards total $9.64 million — $7 million from the DOE and $2.64 million in matches from UCF. Among the winners is 2015 CREOL doctorate graduate Kris Davis.…

Sergey Polyakov ’03 Ph.D., thrives on the unpredictability of his work. “I love to wake up knowing I’ll learn something new in the lab every day. I never know what it is that I am going to learn, and that unpredictability ignites inspiration within me,” said Polyakov, a staff physicist at the National Institute of…

UCF College of Optics and Photonics alumni Arthur Dogariu, Ph.D., ’97, an optical research scientist at Princeton University, has been inducted as a Fellow of the Optical Society of America for his contributions to the field of optics. “I am an experimentalist and my passion stems from working on the frontiers of optical science in…

  Three alumni of the College of Optics and Photonics were recently admitted as fellows of The Optical Society (OSA). Interim Dean David Hagan, Ph.D., notes that one OSA fellow in a year is not unusual considering the quality of graduates emerging from the college, but three in one year is extraordinary. Prior to this…