Alexandra Boltasseva, Assistant Professor

Short CV

Alexandra Boltasseva

Alexandra Boltasseva
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University
Birck Nanotechnology Center, 1205 West State Street
West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-2057
+1 765 494 0301 (Phone), aeb@purdue.edu (e-mail)

Education:

  • Ph.D. Electrical Engineering, Research Center COM, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark (2004)
  • M.S. Applied Physics and Mathematics, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Russia (with highest honors) (2000)
  • B.S. Applied Physics and Mathematics, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Russia (with highest honors) (1999)

Professional Career:

  • Assistant Prof. (tenure track) at ECE, Purdue University (09/2008 - present)
  • Guest Professor at SAOT, Universitat Erlangen-Nurnberg, Germany (11/2009 - present)
  • Associate Professor (tenured) at DTU Fotonik, Technical University of Denmark (07/2008 - 08/2010)
  • Assistant Professor at DTU Fotonik, Technical University of Denmark (2007 - 2008)
  • Post. Doc. at DTU Fotonik, Technical University of Denmark (2005 - 2007)
  • Research Scientist at Alight Technologies A/S (Denmark; 2004 - 2005)
  • Research Assistant at Micro Managed Photons A/S (Denmark; 2002 - 2004)
  • Research Assistant (M.S. research) at P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow (Russia; 1998-2000)

Professional Recognitions, Honors, and Awards:

  • TR35 Award (2011) (Technology Review magazine published by MIT 'honors 35 innovators under 35 each year whose work promises to change the world')
  • The Acorn Award: Seed for Success, Purdue (2010) (PI and co-PIs garnering $1 million or more in research grants, with Prof. Shalaev and Prof. Narimanov)
  • SAOT Young Researcher Award in Advanced Optical Technologies, Erlangen Graduate School in Advanced Optical Technologies (SAOT), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany (2009)
  • Chicago Alumni New Faculty Award, Purdue faculty start-up package (2009)
  • SAOT Young Researcher Award in Advanced Optical Technologies, Erlangen Graduate School in Advanced Optical Technologies (SAOT), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany (2009)
  • Young Researcher Participant, 58th Meeting of Nobel Prize Winners in Physics (Council for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings), Lindau, Germany, Nomination by the Danish Research Council (2008)
  • "Ung Eliteforskerpris": Young Elite-Researcher Award from the Danish Councils for Independent Research, Denmark (2008)
  • "UBVAs forfatterlegat": Danish Confederation of Professional Associations prize for PhD dissertation (2006)
  • "Talent Project" grant from the Danish Technical Research Council, Denmark (2004)
  • Lenin's scholarship for academic excellence, Russia (1999-2000) (the highest award for academic excellence)
  • Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology scholarships for academic excellence, Russia (1996-1999)
  • Winner of High-School Physics Olympics of Chuvash Autonomous Republic, Russia (1993 and 1994)
  • Honor Award at All-Russian Physics Olympics, Russia (1993)

Research Grants (Received as PI and co-PI):

  • "Unlocking new physics with improved plasmonic materials", Army Research Office (ARO) grant (09/01/2011-05/31/2014), $400,000 - PI
  • "Large-Area 3D Optical Metamaterials with Tunability and Low Loss", ONR MURI grant N00014-10-1-0942 (09/01/2010-08/31/2015), $950,000 - co-PI
  • "Glancing Angle Deposition System for Transformation-Optics Devices", Defense University Research Instrumentation program (DURIP), Army Research Office (ARO) grant (09/01/2010-05/31/2012), $150,000 - PI
  • "Transformation Optical Metamaterials", ARO MURI grant W911NF-09-1-0539 (9/28/2009 - 8/31/2014), $620,000 - co-PI
  • "Searching for Better Plasmonic Materials" ARO grant W911NF-09-1-0516 (09/15/2009-06/14/2010), $50,000 - PI
  • "Improved Plasmonic Materials for Nanophotonics" Purdue Research Foundation (PRF) grant from Purdue University (06/01/2009-10/31/2010), $16,750 - PI
  • "On-Chip Nano-Imaging Using Superlens (NanoMIUS)" research project grant from the Danish Research Council for Technology and Production Sciences (FTP) (09/01/2007-04/30/2011), #274-07-0057, $900,000 - PI
  • "Surface Plasmon Polariton Optics Using Advanced Nanotechnology" research project grant from the Danish Technical Research Council (FTP) (03/01/2005-02/28/2007), #26-04-0268, $300,000 - PI

Professional Activities and Affiliations

Professional Society Affiliations:
  • IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, member (since 2009)
  • OSA, Optical Society of America, member (since 2009), Senior member (since 2011)
  • SPIE, International Society for Optical Engineers, member (since 2008)
  • MRS, Materials Research Society, member (since 2005)
  • DOPS, Danish Optical Society, member (2007-2009)
  • KIF, Network for Women in Physics in Denmark, member (since 2005)
  • NorWiP, Nordic Network for Women in Physics, member (since 2005)
Editorial:
  • Topical Editor for Optics Letters (03/2011 - 03/2014)
  • Topical Editor for the Nanophotonics and Plasmonics section of Journal of Optics (2011)
  • Guest Editor for the special issue on "Next Wave of Metamaterials" for the journal Materials (ISSN 1996-1944) (2010-2011)
  • Deputy Topical Editor for the Nanophotonics and Plasmonics section of Journal of Optics (2009-2010)
Activities as Referee:
  • Referee for Journal of Optical Society of America B, Optics Letters, Nature Photonics, Metamaterials, Materials, Nano Letters, Science, Nature Physics, Optics Express, Journal of Lightwave Technology, Optics Communications, IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, Microelectronic Engineering
  • Referee (1 time) for NSF panel on Photonic Devices, ECCS Division; Future and Emerging Technologies, European Commission, Army Research Office
  • Submission reviewer: 2nd Congress on Advanced Electromagnetic Materials in Microwaves and Optics: Metamaterials 2008, Pamplona, Spain, September 21-26, 2008; 4th International Congress on Advanced Electromagnetic Materials in Microwaves and Optics, Karlsruhe, Germany, September 13-18, 2010; 5th International Congress on Advanced Electromagnetic Materials in Microwaves and Optics, Barcelona, Spain, 10-15 October 2011
Conference Committees:
  • CLEO/QELS 2012 - Member of the QELS "Metamaterials and Complex Media" technical subcommittee
  • Electronic Materials Conference 2011, Santa Barbara, CA, USA, June 22-24, 2011 - Member of the organizing committee on the topic of Metamaterials
  • International Conference on Fiber Optics and Photonics, "PHOTONICS - 2010", Guwahati, India, December 11 - 15, 2010 - Member of the International Advisory Committee
  • International Conference on Coherent and Nonlinear Optics (ICONO-2010), Kazan, Russia, August 23-27, 2010 - Member of program subcommittee on "Physics of Metamaterials, Periodic and Random Media"
  • CLEO/QELS 2010, San Jose, California, USA, May 16-21, 2010 - Member of the QELS-03 "Metamaterials and Complex Media" technical subcommittee
  • CLEO/QELS 2009, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, May 31-June 5, 2009 - Member of the QELS technical subcommittee "Fundamentals of Metamaterials"
  • International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies, ICMAT 2009, Singapore, June 28-July 3, 2009 - Member of the program committee
Conferences with Session Chairing/Presiding Invitations:
  • SPIE Optics and Photonics, San Diego, California, USA, August 21-25, 2011
  • SPIE Photonics Europe, Brussels, Belgium, April 12 - 16, 2010
  • SPIE Optics and Photonics: Plasmonics, San Diego, California, USA, August 2-6, 2009
  • International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies, ICMAT 2009, Singapore, June 28 - July 3, 2009
  • 2009 CLEO/IQEC, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, May 31-June 5, 2009
  • 2nd European Topical Meeting on Nanophotonics and Metamaterials (NANOMETA 2009) Seefeld, Austria, January 5-8, 2009
  • 33rd International Conference on Micro
  • and Nano-Engineering MNE07, Copenhagen, Denmark, September 23-26, 2007 - Plenary session chair
  • CLEO/QELS and PhAST 2007, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, May 6-11, 2007
  • 2006 SPIE Optics and Photonics, Plasmonics: Nanoimaging, Nanofabrication, and Their Applications II, San Diego, California, USA, August 13-17, 2006
Committee Activities at Purdue:
  • Birck Nanotechnology Center Internal Advisory Committee (2009); Birck Policy and Procedure Committee (2009); Graduate Admission Committee (2009-2011); ECE Curriculum Committee (2010, 2011)
Other:
  • Member of the Coordination Committee of the Russian-speaking Academic Science Association (RASA)
  • Member of the organizing committee for workshop of Russian and former Soviet Union scientists "On the way to Nanotechnological Revolution", France, October 5-11, 2008

Media Interviews and Other Coverage:

  • "8 Forskerhistorier 2006", Year-report from the Danish Research Council for Technology and Production Sciences (highlighting 8 granted research projects every year) (2006)
  • Article "Superlinse kan spare medicinforsøg" in Ingeniøren (major Danish engineering Newspaper) (2007)
  • Press-release of the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation (highlighting only 2 research projects out of all granted in 2007 in Denmark) (2007)
  • 3 articles in major Danish newspapers: "Spåkonen og superlinsen" in Politiken, "Forgyldt nanoforsker udvikler superlinser" in Børsen, "Forskerkarierren har mest at byde på" in Ingeniøren (2008)
  • Article on Danish scientific news media Videnskab.dk "Nobelprisvindere forventer flere store gennembrud i fysik" on Lindau Nobel meeting and Danish participants (07-21-2008)
  • In "News and Highlights", Laser & Photonics Reviews 3, no 4, A31-A32 (2009)
  • P. West, S. Ishii, G. Naik, N. Emani and A. Boltasseva, "Identifying low-loss plasmonic materials", SPIE Newsroom (2010-10-10), DOI: 10.1117/2.1201009.003167 Featured article on MaterialsViews.com, 2010-10-21
  • Numerous Science blogs: sciencedaily.com, scienceblog.com, nextbigfuture.com and others (Science Perspective paper on New Plasmonic Materials) (2010)
  • A. Boltasseva and H. Atwater, "New materials could turn near-fantastic devices like invisibility cloaks and hyperlenses into reality", 2Physics (02-27-2010)
  • "In search of new materials", in News and Views, Nature Photonics 5, 139-140 (2011), DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2011.30

Invited Lectures:

  • Instrument Technology Research Center and National Taiwan University, Taiwan (December 2010) - Prof. D. P. Tsai
  • Ilmenau University, Institute of Micro and Nanotechnology, Germany (June 2010) - Prof. Thomas Klar
  • Harvard University, Applied Physics Colloquium, USA (March 2010) - Prof. Eric Mazur
  • Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Russia (October 2009) - Prof. Vladimir Lebedev, Prof. Mikhail Trunin
  • Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany (May 2009) - Prof. Dr. Oliver Benson
  • SAOT Erlangen Graduate School in Advanced Optical Technology, Erlangen, Germany (November 2008) - Prof. Dr. Alfred Leipertz
  • Institute of Optics, Information and Photonics (Max Planck Research Group), University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany (June 2008) - Prof. Dr. Gerd Leuchs
  • Tyndall Photonics Seminar, Cork, Ireland (April 2008) - Dr. Tomasz J. Ochalski
  • Nano•DTU, DTU, Denmark (November 2007) - Prof. Jesper Mørk
  • Ecole Supérieur de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles, Paris, France (July 2007) - Dr. Samuel Gresillon
  • University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland (November 2006) - Prof. Kristjan Leosson
  • Max-Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz, Germany (June 2005) - Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Knoll

Conferences with Invited Talks

  • 5th International Congress on Advanced Electromagnetic Materials in Microwaves and Optics: Metamaterials 2011, Barcelona, Spain, 10-15 October 2011 - Invited talk
  • SPIE Optics and Photonics, San Diego, California, USA, August 21-25, 2011 - Invited talk
  • Nanometa conference, Seefeld, Austria, January 3-7, 2011 - Invited talk
  • 4th International Congress on Advanced Electromagnetic Materials in Microwaves and Optics: Metamaterials 2010, Karlsruhe, Germany, September 13-18, 2010 - Invited talk
  • International Conference on Coherent and Nonlinear Optics (ICONO-2010), Kazan, Russia, August 23-27, 2010 - Member of program subcommittee, Invited talk
  • SPIE Optics and Photonics: Plasmonics, San Diego, California, USA, August 1-5, 2010 - 2 invited talks
  • 4th International Conference "Frontiers of Nonlinear Physics", Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, July 13-20, 2010 - Invited talk
  • 19th International Laser Physics Workshop (LPHYS'10), Foz do Iguacu, Brazil, July 5 - 9, 2010 - Invited talk
  • CIMTEC 2010, 12th International Conference on Modern Materials and Technologies, Symposium FM on Electromagnetic Metamaterials, Montecatini Terme, Tuscany, Italy, June 6-18, 2010 - Invited talk
  • META'10, International Conference on Metamaterials, Photonic crystals and Plasmonics, "THz and Optical Plasmonic Waveguides and Antennas" session, Cairo, Egypt, February 22-25, 2010 - Invited talk
  • "Winter Colloquium on the Physics of Quantum Electronics", Snowbird, Utah, USA, January 3-7, 2010 - Invited talk
  • 2009 Fall MRS Symposium, Boston, MA, USA, November 30 - December 4, 2009 - Invited talk
  • 3rd International Congress on Advanced Electromagnetic Materials in Microwaves and Optics: Metamaterials 2009, London, UK, August 30-September 4, 2009 - Invited talk
  • SPIE Optics and Photonics: Plasmonics, San Diego, California, USA, August 2-6, 2009 - Invited talk, Session chair
  • International Laser Physics Workshop (LPHYS'09), Barcelona, Spain, July 13 - 17, 2009 - Invited talk
  • International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies, ICMAT 2009, Singapore, June 28 - July 3, 2009 - Invited talk, Session chair, Member of the program committee
  • Annual Meeting of Network for Women in Physics (Denmark, Sweden), Lyngby, Denmark, June 15, 2009 - Invited talk
  • Metamorphose PhD school on "Fabrication and optical properties of nanostructured metamaterials", Rethymnon, Crete, Greece, June 12-13, 2009 - Invited lecturer
  • ETOPIM 8, Crete, Greece, June 7-12, 2009 - Invited talk
  • 2009 MRS Spring Meeting, San Francisco, California, USA, April 13-17, 2009 - Invited talk
  • 2009 IEEE/LEOS Winter Topical Meetings, Innsbruck, Austria, January 12 - 14, 2009 - Invited talk
  • 2nd European Topical Meeting on Nanophotonics and Metamaterials (NANOMETA 2009) Seefeld, Austria, January 5-8, 2009 - Invited talk, Session chair
  • 2nd Congress on Advanced Electromagnetic Materials in Microwaves and Optics: Metamaterials 2008, Pamplona, Spain, September 21-26, 2008 - Invited talk
  • Photon08, Heriot-Watt University Campus, Edinburgh, UK, August 25-28, 2008 - Invited talk
  • SPIE Optics and Photonics: Plasmonics, San Diego, California, USA, August 10-14, 2008 - Invited talk
  • XIII International Conference "Laser Optics'2008", St. Petersburg, Russia, June 23 - 28, 2008 - Invited talk
  • META'08 - the NATO Advanced Research Workshop: Metamaterials for Secure Information and Communication Technologies, Marrakesh, Morocco, May 7-10, 2008 - Invited talk
  • Women in Photonics (WiP) School on Photonic Metamaterials, Paris, France, April 13-17, 2008 - Invited lecturer
  • SPIE Photonics Europe, Strasbourg, France, April 7-11, 2008 - Invited talk
  • SPIE Optics and Photonics: Photonic Metamaterials, San Diego, California, USA, August 26-30, 2007 - Invited talk
  • 16th International Laser Physics Workshop, León, Mexico, August 20-24, 2007 - Invited talk
  • International Conference on Coherent and Nonlinear Optics (ICONO 2007), Minsk, Belarus, May 28-June 1, 2007 - Invited talk
  • CLEO/QELS and PhAST 2007, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, May 6-11, 2007 - Invited talk, Session chair
  • 2006 SPIE Optics and Photonics, Plasmonics: Nanoimaging, Nanofabrication, and Their Applications II, San Diego, California, USA, August 13-17, 2006 - Invited talk, Session chair

Publication Summary:

3 invited book chapters, 4 invited review articles, 56 research papers in refereed journals, 45 invited presentations at leading research centers and International conferences.
ISI web of Science (2011-09): 69 search results, total citations 1048, highest citation 163, 7 papers with citations > 50, h-index 18

Teaching and Supervising Experience:

Bachelor, Master's and PhD Students:
  1. Rasmus B. Nielsen, MS, Technical University of Denmark, 2007 (completed), co-supervisor
  2. Kasper B. Joergensen, BS, University of Southern Denmark, 2008 (completed), co-supervisor
  3. Maksim Zalkovskij, MS, DTU, 2009 (completed), co-supervisor
  4. Claus Jeppesen, PhD, DTU (completed, 2011), co-supervisor (now postdoc at DTU)
  5. Rasmus B. Nielsen, PhD, DTU (thesis submitted, 2010), supervisor (now at ASML (lithography systems), Netherlands)
  6. Tiberiu Rosenzveig, PhD, Univesity of Iceland (thesis submitted, 2010), co-supervisor
  7. Paul West, PhD, Purdue (in progress), supervisor
  8. Gururaj Naik, PhD, Purdue (in progress), supervisor
  9. Naresh Emani, PhD, Purdue (in progress), supervisor
  10. Jongbum Kim, PhD, Purdue (in progress), supervisor
Teaching Experience:
  • ECE 414 Elements of Electro- and Fiber Optics, Purdue (Spring 2011)
  • Nanophotonics, ECTS 2.5, Erlangen Master Program in advanced optical technologies, Erlangen University (Fall 2010)
  • ECE 412 Introduction to Engineering Optics, Purdue (Fall 2010)
  • Nanophotonics, ECTS 2.5, Erlangen Master Program in advanced optical technologies, Erlangen University (Fall 2009)
  • ECE 412 Introduction to Engineering Optics, Purdue (Fall 2010; 1/4 course Fall 2009)
  • ECE 414 Elements of Electro- and Fiber Optics, Purdue (Spring 2009)
  • Course on Nanophotonics for graduate students, Technical University of Denmark (1/4 course, Spring 2007, 2008)
  • Three-week intense research course (2003)
Other:
  • "Mentoring of Experts" courses for young faculty on supervising graduate students (Technical University of Denmark and Purdue University)

Diversity:

  • Member of KIF, Network for Women in Physics in Denmark, NorWiP, Nordic Network for Women in Physics (since 2005)
  • Participant in gender activity programs associated with The European FP6 Network of Excellence ePIXnet (2005-2006)
  • Member of the organizing committee: 3rd Workshop of Nordic Network for Women in Physics (NorWiP), Lyngby, Denmark, August 16-17, 2007
  • Member of Women in Engineering Program, Purdue (since 2008)

Outreach:

  • Co-authored a book chapter for high-school teachers on Nanophotonics: A. Boltasseva and M. van der Poel, Brydninger, chapter in "Optiske Horisonter: en rejse på kommunikationsteknologiens vinger", Eds: A. Bjarklev, J. Scheel, C. V. Smith, DTU, one2one A/S, p. 11-25, ISBN 87-92062-01-6 (2007)
  • Participation in Nanophotonics Days, Open House arrangements and "Meet a Researcher" initiatives (Technical University of Denmark, Purdue University)