CREOL doctoral student Debasmita Banerjee found herself sharing the spotlight with some of the most inspiring women in her field.

“On the award stage, there were people that I look up to and that have made a lot of contributions,” Banerjee says.

Banerjee was recognized at the Society of Women Engineers’ annual awards ceremony at their conference in New Orleans. Receiving the Rising Technical Contributor Award, Banerjee joins the ranks of young engineers with less than five years of experience who have already made an impact through leadership and technical achievement. Only up to 20 awards are presented each year. Banerjee was nominated by Professor Chris Holmes at the University of Southampton. The two worked closely to serve the Optical Fabrication and Testing Technical Group from 2022 to 2024.

“Being able to engineer something that has a real contribution to the world is really amazing,” Banerjee says.

Now advised by CREOL Dean David Hagan and Professor Yannick Salamin, and in collaboration with Professor Sasan Fathpour, Banerjee conducts research in nonlinear and quantum optics, focusing on the interaction of intense laser fields with novel materials for nonlinear characterization and frequency-comb generation. Her work bridges fundamental studies of light–matter interaction, performed through precise material characterization experiments with the development of novel optical frequency-comb sources, initially in free-space systems and ultimately in integrated on-chip photonic platforms. The resulting insights enable the creation of ultra-precise optical measurement and sensing tools.

“Our entire world operates on quantum principles, but we rarely perceive them in our everyday lives,” Banerjee explains. “Nonlinear optical phenomena are rarely observed in nature. Yet they reveal some of the universe’s hidden truths. In my lab, I get to recreate and control those effects, essentially bringing invisible quantum behavior into a form we can measure, understand, and apply to real technologies.”

This isn’t the first time Banerjee has been recognized for her work. In 2024, she was awarded the McMurtry Paper Prize at the Siegman International School on Lasers. She also won the top prize in the STEM category of the 2024 Adobe Digital Edge Awards for her video explaining the field of quantum optics. Banerjee says she’s honored to continue building her legacy at CREOL with this award from the Society of Women Engineers.

“It definitely boosted my confidence,” Banerjee says.