Bahram Jalali named to Northrop Grumman Endowed Opto-Electronic Chair in Electrical Engineering

Jun 28, 2011

By UCLA Samueli Newsroom

By Wileen Wong Kromhout

Bahram Jalali, a professor of electrical engineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, has been named to UCLA’s Northrop Grumman Endowed Opto-Electronic Chair in Electrical Engineering.

The chair highlights the school’s excellence in the area of opto-electronics and photonics, including devices, circuits and systems research. The application areas of opto-electronics and photonics include biotechnology, high-speed optical networks, data communication and conversion, and radar.

“Bahram is a leader in the field of photonic devices and opto-electronic systems and is an exceptional educator and scholar,” said Vijay K. Dhir, dean of UCLA Engineering. “This chair will help Bahram to continue to make significant contributions to an important area. I could think of no one better suited to hold this chair.”

Jalali’s research focuses on silicon photonics, fiber optic networks and biophotonics. In recent years, he has developed an ultrafast, light-sensitive video camera that captures images at some 6 million frames per second and a bar code reader that is a thousand times faster than any device currently in use. Jalali has published 300 scientific papers and holds eight U.S. patents.

“I am sincerely humbled to have the privilege of being named the Northrop Grumman Opto-Electronic Chair,” Jalali said. “Northrop Grumman Corporation’s generosity and support will boost our ability to better serve UCLA students and local industry.”

Jalali is a fellow of IEEE, the Optical Society of America and the American Physical Society and was the recipient of the 2007 R.W. Wood Prize from the Optical Society of America for the invention and demonstration of the first silicon laser. He serves on the board of the California Science Center and the board of visitors of Columbia University’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide.

This endowed chair, established through a $1.16 million gift, is part of UCLA Engineering’s Enhancing Engineering Excellence (E3) initiative, a $100 million fundraising effort aimed at generating new endowed faculty chairs, graduate fellowships and undergraduate scholarships, as well as funds for capital projects and diversity initiatives.

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