Popescu named SPIE Fellow

ECE Associate Professor Gabriel Popescu has been named a Fellow of the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE), an organization dedicated to advancing an interdisciplinary approach to the science and application of light.

Popescu was recognized for achievements in biophotonics by phase measurements and interferometry. In addition to his appointment with ECE, Popescu holds a full faculty appointment with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, and he is affiliated with the Department of Bioengineering.

The SPIE has elected a total of more than 1,100 fellows since the organization’s founding in 1955. Popescu was one of 76 Fellows elected to the society this year. Earlier in February, Popescu attended the ceremony for newly elected fellows at SPIE Photonics West 2014, one of the largest SPIE conferences.

“This year’s fellows are a very strong group of people,” Popescu said. “It’s a great honor.”

Popescu is the head of the Quantitative Light Imaging Laboratory, which is located in the Beckman Institute. He and his group research imaging techniques based on light, taking nanoscale measurements of live cells and tissues with increased resolution. By looking at phase information rather than amplitude, he and his group image cells and tissues quantitatively with nanoscale sensitivity.

“We’re combining microscopy, interferometry, and light scattering to make quantitative and sensitive devices for biology,” Popescu said.

Popescu has been a member of SPIE since he was a graduate student. He is a senior member of the Optical Society of America (OSA). Popescu works with many organizations’ student chapters at Illinois, including SPIE, OSA, and IEEE. He is an associate editor for Optics Express and Biomedical Optics Express. He was elected as the 2012-2013 Fellow of the Center for Advanced Studies at Illinois. He founded Phi Optics, Inc., a startup company that commercializes quantitative phase imaging technology.