Alexandra Boltasseva

Alexandra Boltasseva (born January 11, 1978) is Ron And Dotty Garvin Tonjes Distinguished Professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University, and editor-in-chief for The Optical Society's Optical Materials Express journal. Her research focuses on plasmonic metamaterials, manmade composites of metals that use surface plasmons to achieve optical properties not seen in nature.

Education and career
Boltasseva studied her bachelor and masters in physics at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, completing her research projects on quantum-well lasers at the Lebedev Physical Institute. She moved to the Technical University of Denmark for her PhD studies in nanophotonics and nanofabrication, working with Sergey I. Bozhevolnyi. Following her PhD, Boltasseva worked at two photonics start-up companies before returning to the Technical University of Denmark as a postdoc and subsequently an associate professor. In 2008 she moved to Purdue University and is currently the Ron And Dotty Garvin Tonjes Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, as well as holding a courtesy appointment in Materials Engineering.

Research
Prof. A. Boltasseva’s team specializes in nano- and quantum photonics, plasmonics, optical metamaterials, optical materials, and nanofabrication. The central theme of Boltasseva’s research is finding new ways for the discovery, realization, and machine-learning-assisted optimization of nanophotonic structures - from material growth to advanced photonic designs and device demonstrations. Prof. Boltasseva’s team aims at developing new platforms to unlock properties of nanophotonic structures in previously unavailable designs and wavelength regimes and to enable new generations of low-loss, tunable, reconfigurable, semiconductor-compatible devices for applications in on-chip circuitry, information processing, data recording/storage, sensing, medical imaging and therapy, energy conversion and quantum information technologies.

Awards, honors, memberships
A. Boltasseva's research earned her a number of awards:
 * 2023 Fellow of the American Physical Society "for important contributions to nanophotonics, plasmonics, and metamaterials, having made a broad impact in the multidisciplinary area merging optics, material science, and nanotechnology".
 * 2023 R.W. Wood Prize recipient
 * In 2021, for the second consecutive year named in The Highly Cited Researchers™ list by Clarivate™.
 * 2021 Fellow of the Materials Research Society "For her contributions to plasmonic and optical metamaterials including as plasmonic waveguides for on-chip circuitry, high-temperature nanophotonics, optical structures with extremely low refractive index, and tunable plasmonics"
 * 2020 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI)
 * 2019 Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
 * 2018 Blavatnik National Award for Young Scientists Finalist
 * 2017 Fellow of The International Society For Optics And Photonic (SPIE)
 * 2015 Fellow of The Optical Society "For seminal contributions to nanophotonics and new plasmonic materials."
 * 2013 IEEE Photonics Society Young Investigator Award "For seminal contributions to the development of metal-dielectric waveguides for integrated optics and novel approaches for realization of nanoplasmonic devices"
 * 2013 Materials Research Society Outstanding Young Investigator Award "For pioneering research to develop novel materials for advanced plasmonic, metamaterial and transformation optics devices with potential applications in future nanoscale photonic technologies"
 * 2011 MIT Technology Review Top Young Innovator (TR35)
 * 2009 University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Young Researcher Award in Advanced Optical Technologies
 * 2008 Young Elite-Researcher Award from the Danish Councils for Independent Research

Optical Society
Boltasseva was assigned as editor-in-chief for The Optical Society's Optical Materials Express journal in 2016, taking over the role from David J. Hagan, founding editor-in-chief.