SPIE Fellow Andreas Mandelis and SPIE Member Sajeev John of University of Toronto have been awarded a 2014 Killam Prize, one of Canada's most prestigious scholarly awards.
Mandelis, a professor and director of the university's Center for Advanced Diffusion-Wave Technologies (CADIFT), received a Killam Prize for his advancements in new applications of lasers in materials science and biomedical engineering. He has chaired the Optics in Bone Surgery and Diagnostics conference at SPIE Photonics West since 2009, and has published extensively in the SPIE Journal of Biomedical Optics.
Mandelis is a leader in the field of diffusion-wave and photoacoustic sciences, and his research involves creating new tools that use light for non-invasive diagnosis and management of diseases like breast cancer and diabetes. He is also developing more efficient methods of quality control in the manufacturing and use of optoelectronics, metals and coatings.
John, a physicist and professor, received a Killam Prize for his development of new photonic band gap (PBG) materials. He is chair of the upcoming Nanophotonic Architectures for Devices session at SPIE Optics + Photonics 2014, and will present a keynote talk on "Light trapping and solar energy harvesting in thin-film photonic crystals" in the Nanoscience + Engineering symposium.
John's research could lead to the development of photonic computers that use laser light, not electric current, to carry information, resulting in faster, cheaper, more versatile tools for the computer and telecommunications industries. His other applications include novel fibers for laser surgery and light-trapping in thin films for efficient solar-energy harvesting.
The Killam Prize, administered by the Canada Council for the Arts, recognizes outstanding career achievement by scholars actively engaged in research. Only five prizes are awarded annually and each comes with a $100,000 award.
In addition, a 2014 Killam Research Fellowship was presented to Mario LeClerc of Université Laval (Canada), a co-author of the paper "X-ray photoemission spectroscopy study of vertical phase segregation in polymer: PDI blends," which will be presented at SPIE Optics + Photonics 2014.
LeClerc's research group will work on a unique polymerization method to develop efficient and printable polymeric semiconductors, considered to be one of the most promising ways to lower the cost of the energy generated by solar cells.
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