2023 Speakers

Daniel M. Mittleman

• Dr. Mittleman received his B.S. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1988, and his M.S. in 1990 and Ph.D. in 1994, both in physics from the University of California, Berkeley , under the direction of Dr. Charles Shank . He then joined AT&T Bell Laboratories as a post-doctoral member of the technical staff, working first for Dr. Richard Freeman on a terawatt laser system, and then for Dr. Martin Nuss on terahertz spectroscopy and imaging.
• Dr. Mittleman joined the ECE Department at Rice University in September 1996. In 2015, he moved to the School of Engineering at Brown University . His research interests involve the science and technology of terahertz radiation. 
• He is a Fellow of the OSA, the APS, and the IEEE, and is a 2018 recipient of the Humboldt Research Award. In 2018-2020, he served a three-year term as Chair of the International Society for Infrared Millimeter and Terahertz Waves, and received the Society’s Exceptional Service Award in 2022. In 2023-2025, he is a Mercator Fellow of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), in affiliation with the Meteracom project.

Yunzhou (Sophia) Shi

• Technology innovator, agile thinker and problem solver, adventurer and skilled professional. Keen on delivering new health products. Embrace managing multi-culture and cross-functional teams.
• Previous experience with
  • L’Oréal, as a research scientist, worked on inventing novel wearable technologies. Owner of 3 US patents.
  • Samsung, as a manager and later a director in Health Solution Lab, worked on designing and managing verification and clinical validation for software as medical device.
  • Meta, as a clinical research manager, works on digital health and health algorithm verification and validation.

Matthew Posner

• Learning and Education Director excited to apply technical and professional engagement portfolio for the advancement of photonics technologies. Open to new connections in the field, please include a note to discuss.

• Efficient at applying myself to collaborative ventures and defining areas where my contributions can be used to deliver successful projects. Acquired leadership experience through organizational influence and developing reliable services and products for customers.
• I actively participate in professional organizations and am passionate about optics education. I am a native French and English speaker, a keen cyclist and enthused by travel, networking and mentoring.

Joshua Burrow

• Hibbitt Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Engineering at Brown University. Received MS and Ph.D. in Electro-Optics & Photonics from the University of Dayton in 2021 under the direction of Profs. Imad Agha and Jay Mathews, respectively. Explored research in terahertz plasmonic metasurfaces for bio-sensing applications and developing high-speed light (amplitude, phase and polarization) modulators enabled by non-volatile chalcogenide phase change materials.
• Current research includes the development of advanced microscopy techniques that leverage various light degrees of freedom. Systems are used to explore linear and nonlinear light-matter interactions in active phase change nanomaterials, polymers, biological specimens and physiological processes.
• On-going efforts in clinical and entrepreneurial thrusts as they pertain to translational biomedical technologies (e.g. Prototyping and algorithm development for accurate pulse oximeters)
• Past two-term Chapter President of the University of Dayton Optica/SPIE chapter, Co-advisor of the Brown Optica chapter, recipient of the 2017 SPIE Photonics Education Scholarship, host for the 2018 IONS Midwest International Conference, and past Executive Board member of the National Society of Black Physicists

Panagis D. Samolis

• He received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Boston University in 2023 under the advisory of Professor Michelle Sander.
• Dr. Samolis’s Ph.D. research focused on mid-infrared photothermal microscopy.
• He has co-authored 6 journal publications and 15 conference proceedings.
• Served as President of the Boston University IEEE Student Chapter / IEEE – HKN  (2018-2020).
• He is two year recipient of the BU Nano cross disciplinary fellowship for 2018-2019 and 2019-202.
• He is currently working as a postdoctoral associate at the Ultrafast Optics Laboratory.

Peng Lin

• He received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Boston University in 2022 under the advisory of Professor Ji-Xin Cheng. Dr. Lin’s Ph.D. research focused on volumetric stimulated Raman scattering microscopy and its miniaturization with metasurface technology.
• He has 20 publications, 1 patent, and is the recipient of the 2020 SPIE Photonics Education Scholarship.
• Transitioning from academia to industry, Dr. Lin did a research internship at Corning in 2021 and joined Apple in 2022.

Allison M. Marn

• Allison M. Marn is currently an assistant professor at Roger Williams University.
• She received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Boston University in 2021 under the advisory of Professor M. Selim Ünlü.
• 2016-2020 President of BU SPIE&OPTICA student chapter.
• 2019-2020 President of BU ECE Graduate Student Association.
• Experience with industry at InterSystems and General Dynamics Mission Systems before Ph.D. study.

Raeef Istfan

• Raeef Istfan is currently an Imaging Engineer at Samsung NeuroLogica.
• He received a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University in 2021 under the advisory of Professor Darren Roblyer.
• 2017-2020 Vice President of BU SPIE&OPTICA student chapter.
• Experienced in testing and operating diffuse optical systems for a variety of different applications. Interested in the research, development, and translation of biomedical devices to clinical settings and learning more about cardiology, radiology/imaging, software development, and machine learning.