ThorLabs
Accelerating scientific discovery using a comprehensive portfolio of optical components for customers to create custom solutions.
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Ben Potsaid
Research Scientist at ThorLabs
Ben Potsaid is a Research Scientist at ThorLabs in Boston. Since 2008, Ben has been a Visiting Scientist at the Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT. Previously, he was at the Center for Automation Technologies and Systems (CATS) at RPI and worked for one year at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a COOP student. Currently, Ben is working in Thorlabs research space located on the 6th floor of the Photonics Center at Boston University with a goal of reaching out to the Boston research community. Ben has one royalty-paying patent from RPI and MIT and more than 5 patents with Thorlabs, as well as approximately 100 combined journal and conference publications.
My research interests are:
- Optical System and Lens Design
- Precision and High-Performance Motion Control
- Robotics, Automation, and Image Processing
- Design Optimization including Multi-objective, Multidisciplinary, Robust, and Pareto
- Mechatronics and Opto-Mechatronics
- High Performance and Realtime Numerical Computing
- Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and Multiphoton microscopy imaging
Ask Me About:
- The difference between “research” or “research and development” in industry and “research” in academia.
- Pursuing a patent from start to finish: an engineer’s perspective, international challenges, the role of the patent lawyer, and how to do it efficiently.
- What is a research “contribution” and how to maximize the impact of your research in engineering?
Photo credit: Greg Hren Photography/Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT