MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. – Fiorenzo G. Omenetto, Ph.D., professor of biomedical engineering at Tufts University School of Engineering and adjunct professor of physics in the School of Arts and Sciences, has been elected a fellow to the Optical Society of America.
The OSA is a global organization with 130,000 members. It works to promote the science of light and the advanced technologies made possible by optics and photonics.
Omenetto's research is heavily focused on interdisciplinary themes that span nonlinear optics, nanostructured materials (such as photonic crystals and photonic crystal fibers), optofluidics and biopolymer based photonics. His laboratory has pioneered the use of silk as a material platform for photonics, optoelectronics and high-technology applications and is actively investigating novel applications that rely on this new technology platform.
The OSA Fellows are selected from a field of nominees made by current Fellows. Each year, they nominate candidates to the Board of Directors. Fellows are selected on a variety of criteria, such as record of significant publications or patents related to optics, achievements in optics, management ability, and service to OSA or the global optics community. Nomination to Fellow is the highest professional honor in the field of optical physics.
This year's Fellows represent more than a dozen countries on four continents. Omenetto is one of 66 members elevated to the rank of Fellow in 2012.
"Fiorenzo has served the optics community with distinction, and I am very pleased to recognize him with this honor," said OSA President Tony Heinz. "He is part of a truly global group of individuals." His work earned him a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation last year.
Omenetto earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering and applied physics from the Università di Pavia, Italy. Additional information on his research is available at http://engineering.tufts.edu/bme/research/omenetto/home.html
Tufts University School of Engineering Located on Tufts' Medford/Somerville campus, the School of Engineering offers a rigorous engineering education in a unique environment that blends the intellectual and technological resources of a world-class research university with the strengths of a top-ranked liberal arts college. Close partnerships with Tufts' excellent undergraduate, graduate and professional schools, coupled with a long tradition of collaboration, provide a strong platform for interdisciplinary education and scholarship. The School of Engineering's mission is to educate engineers committed to the innovative and ethical application of science and technology in addressing the most pressing societal needs, to develop and nurture twenty-first century leadership qualities in its students, faculty, and alumni, and to create and disseminate transformational new knowledge and technologies that further the well-being and sustainability of society in such cross-cutting areas as human health, environmental sustainability, alternative energy, and the human-technology interface.