EECS Ph.D Student Simone Bianconi Awarded 2018 SPIE Optics and Photonics Education Scholarship

In the BISOL Lab, Bianconi works to increase the sensitivity limit of III-V-based optoelectronic devices.

EECS Ph.D. Student Simone Bianconi has been awarded a 2018 Optics and Photonics Education Scholarship by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, for his potential contributions to the field of optics, photonics or related field. The Society awarded $293,000 in education scholarships to 85 outstanding SPIE student members, based on their potential contribution to optics and photonics, or a related discipline.

Bianconi is currently a Research Assistant working in the Bio-inspired Sensors and Optoelectronics Laboratory (BiSOL) under Prof. Hooman Mohseni. He is interested in novel device fabrication, optical electronics and nanophotonics. 

In the BISOL Lab, Bianconi works to increase the sensitivity limit of III-V-based optoelectronic devices. These devices find applications in various fields, ranging from detection and ranging, communications and astronomy.

Bianconi says, “Using novel techniques and new designs of optoelectronic devices, we aim at achieving unprecedented performance, which will enable a series of applications, such as photonics-based quantum computing and exoplanet detection, hitherto unrealizable”.

Simone received his Bachelors in Electrical Engineering in 2013 and Masters degree in Nuclear Engineering in 2015 from University of Bologna, Italy, and also studied Radiological Engineering as an Exchange Student at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He has co-authored 4 publications and is currently serving on the board of the Northwestern SPIE Student Chapter.

SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics, an educational not‐for‐profit organization founded in 1955 to advance light‐based science, engineering, and technology. The Society serves nearly 264,000 constituents from approximately 166 countries, offering conferences and their published proceedings, continuing education, books, journals, and the SPIE Digital Library.

View Bianconi’s SPIE Press Release

View Bianconi's Google Scholar Citations page

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