Inventive Young Engineer Selected for 2005 Frontiers of Engineering Symposium

Janet Pan, associate professor of electrical engineering and of applied physics at Yale, whose is developing new materials for optoelectronics, has been invited as a participant to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) 2005 U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium September 22–24 at GE Global Research Center in Niskayuna, N.Y.

The symposium is the 11th annual event bringing together 88 engineers nationwide between ages 30 to 45 that are performing cutting-edge engineering and technical research in many disciplines. The honored participants from industry, academia, and government were nominated by fellow engineers or organizations and will participate with senior NAE Fellows.

“Significant advances in engineering are occurring where disciplines intersect,” said NAE President William A. Wulf. “Frontiers of Engineering provides an opportunity for engineers to learn about techniques and challenges in areas other than their own. Topics for this year include aspects of ID and verification technologies, energy, the engineering of complex systems, and engineering for developing communities. ”

According to Pan, to be effective, fiber optics must transmit light at a precise wavelength so that losses are low enough for long-distance communications. For example, the LEDs (light emitting diodes) that are commonly seen in traffic lights radiate at wavelengths which are not useful for transmitting information over long distances.

“Light that you can see is ineffective for transmission over long distances. If you try to send it over fiber optic cables or through the atmosphere, it scatters and gets lost,” said Pan, who is working on a new source for this kind of light — a crystal, made by modifying a familiar semiconductor, like gallium arsenide, to expand its capabilities.

“Modifying materials that already exist takes advantage of the technology that is in place, while giving it a new dimension,” said Pan. “Conversations at a symposium like Frontiers of Engineering will bring out new ideas for applications of this technology — from military weapons detection to diagnostics on human blood.”

Pan was previously honored for her exceptional work as one of only 26 applied scientists nationwide to receive an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award in 2004. She is also a recipient of an NSF Faculty Early Career Award. Her undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral training was at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She joined the Yale Faculty of Engineering in 1999 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2004.