Congratulations to Michal Lipson, Professor at the Electrical Engineering Department & Professor of Applied Physics, Columbia University, USA and graduate of our faculty (BSc, MSc and Ph.D.), for receiving the 2021 John Tyndall Award of The Optical Society (OSA) and the IEEE Photonics Society. Lipson received the award for “fundamental and technological advances in integrated photonic devices” and is the first women to receive the award since it was established in 1987.
Lipson completed her BSc., MSc and Ph.D. degrees in the Physics department at the Technion. Her Ph.D. research, completed in 1998, was held under the supervision of Professor Elisha Cohen and had the title "Coupled Exciton-Photon modes in semiconductor optical microcavities ". On her experience at the Technion shared Lipson in 2019 “I am grateful for the outstanding education that I received at the Technion Physics department, as an undergraduate, and as a graduate student under the guidance of Prof Elisha Cohen. It formed the basis of my career and played a critical role in shaping my academic path”.
From the OSA announcement:
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“A trailblazer in the field, Michal Lipson’s groundbreaking research led to the development of the first gigahertz silicon modulators, demonstrating that silicon photonics could produce active devices,” said 2020 OSA President Stephen Fantone. “The Tyndall Award is a well-deserved testament to her visionary work in nanophotonics”.
"Michal Lipson is a leader, a pioneer and a giant in the field of nanophotonics for her contributions to the physics and applications of light confining photonics structures”, added IEEE Photonics Society President Carmen Menoni. “The IEEE Photonics Society is delighted with her recognition by the Tyndall Award.“
The John Tyndall award, one of the top honors in the fiber optics community, is named for John Tyndall, a 19th century scientist who was the first to demonstrate the phenomenon of total internal reflection. It recognizes an individual who has made pioneering, highly significant, or continuing technical or leadership contributions to fiber optic technology. She has also been awarded the NAS Comstock Prize in Physics, the MacArthur Fellowship, the Blavatnik Award, the Optical Society’s R. W. Wood Prize, the IEEE Photonics Award, Erna Hamburger Award and has received an honorary degree from Trinity College, University of Dublin, Ireland. In 2020, she was elected OSA 2021 Vice President and will serve as the Society President in 2023.
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Read the full press release here.