Brian T. Cunningham Named Distinguished Lecturer for IEEE Photonics Society

7/9/2018 Janet McGreevy

MNTL Director Will Serve for 2018-2019 Term

Written by Janet McGreevy

Professor Brian T. Cunningham has been named a Distinguished Lecturer by the IEEE Photonics Society for the term of 2018-2019.

The IEEE Photonics Society Distinguished Lecturer Program was designed to honor excellent speakers who have made technical, industrial, or entrepreneurial contributions to the field of photonics and to enhance the technical programs of the IEEE Photonics Society chapters. Chapters may request Distinguished Lecturers to present at chapter meetings, chapter-related events or technically co-sponsored conferences organized by a chapter. Lecturers are selected each term (July 1 to June 30) with some lecturers extending for a second term.

Cunningham is excited to begin work in this new role:  “I am extremely honored to have the opportunity to serve as an ambassador for the IEEE Photonics Society, and to share the work from my group with institutions around the world. I am already planning visits to multiple institutions  across California, Texas, the UK, Belgium, and Australia, all in the coming year. Making new colleagues, meeting students, discussing research ideas, and sampling the local cuisine are activities that I am looking forward to. With any luck, I will simultaneously achieve Platinum status on American Airlines’ frequent flier program!”

Named Director of the Micro & Nanotechnology Laboratory in 2014, Cunningham is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he has been a faculty member since 2004. He also serves as the Theme Leader for the Omics Nanotechnology for Cancer Precision Medicine (ONC-PM). Additionally, Cunningham leads the Nanosensors Group, whose research focuses on areas including smartphone biosensors, discrete frequency infrared spectroscopy, microfluidics, photonics crystal-enhanced microscopy, and tissue engineering, among others. This research group provides Cunningham the opportunity to mentor talented students, including graduate students, postdocs, and visiting scholars.

Cunningham giving investiture speech
Cunningham giving investiture speech

In a career marked by extraordinary accomplishments, Cunningham has received multiple honors over the years. Just a few of his more recent achievements—named an Associate for the Center for Advanced Studies at Illinois in 2018; designated a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2016; named the Donald Biggar Willett Professor of Engineering in 2015; and, selected for the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Technical Achievement Award in 2014.

Over the course of his scientific research activities, Cunningham has produced many patentable discoveries.

Cunningham earned his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois. His thesis research was in the field of optoelectronics and compound semiconductor material science, where he contributed to the development of crystal growth techniques that are now widely used for manufacturing solid state lasers, and high frequency amplifiers for wireless communication.


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This story was published July 9, 2018.