Optica elects CCNY physicist Carlos Meriles 2024 Fellow

Dr. Carlos A. Meriles, the Martin and Michele Cohen Professor of Physics in The City College of New York’s Division of Science, is one of 129 leading physicists globally elected 2024 Optica Fellows. Election as a Fellow is by The Board of Directors of Optica (formerly OSA), Advancing Optics and Photonics Worldwide, and is based on several factors, including outstanding contributions to research, business, education, engineering and service to Optica and its community.

Meriles’ recognition is “for fundamental contributions to sensing, spin physics, and optoelectronics using color centers in diamond.”

The new Fellows, from as far away as Australia, China, Britain, Hong Kong, Germany, Israel and Spain, will be honored at Optica conferences and events throughout 2024.

Founded in 1916, Optica is the leading organization for scientists, engineers, business professionals, students and others interested in the science of light. Optica is dedicated to promoting the generation, application, archiving and dissemination of knowledge in the field. Click here for more information.

“Congratulations to the 2024 class of Optica Fellows, ” said Michal Lipson 2023 Optica President. “It is a pleasure to honor these members who are advancing our field and society. We are grateful for their exceptional work and dedication.”

Fellows are Optica members who have served with distinction in the advancement of optics and photonics. The Fellow Members Committee, led by Chair Ofer Levi, University of Toronto, Canada, reviewed 216 nominations submitted by current Fellows. As Fellows can account for no more than 10 percent of the total membership, the election process is highly competitive. Candidates are recommended by the Fellow Members Committee and approved by the Awards Council and Board of Directors.

Meriles is the second pioneering CCNY physicist elected an Optica Fellow in four years after Vinod Menon in fall 2019. Menon, whose research in light-matter interaction at the nanoscale level has advanced the field of photonics, received another distinction recently when he was named a 2023 American Physical Society (APS) Fellow.

The Optica Fellowship adds to Meriles’ several distinctions. They include the NSF-CAREER award (2006), the Wegman Brothers faculty fellowship (2006), and the Cottrell Scholar Award (2007). He is a 2011 Alexander von Humboldt scholar, a 2015 Fellow of the of the American Physical Society, and the 2016 recipient of the Frontiers in Research Excellence and Discovery (FRED) Award by Research Corporation.

Click here to read more about Meriles. 

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