Duncan Steel, Robert J. Hiller Professor of EECS, as well as professor
of Physics, Applied Physics, and the Biophysics Program, and Senior Research
Scientist at the Institute of Gerontology, has been selected to receive a
2010
Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award for his efforts as advisor,
teacher, advocate, sponsor, and role model to doctoral students.
Prof. Steel was praised for his reputation of giving his students freedom to
explore their own directions, balancing student freedom with guidance while
developing a collaborative relationship in research. His students have
expressed tremendous gratitude to be able to work at the frontier of quantum
optics, while still being allowed to develop as independent scientists -
learning through mistakes and blazing new paths in the process.
Upon graduation, Prof. Steel continues to actively support his students'
professional careers, which have been quite prestigious as well. His
students have established successful careers in academia, independent
research programs at national labs, and have even established international
reputations of their own. To date, he has graduated 38 PhD students, and has
quite a few more about to graduate.
Prof. Steel has been one of the recognized pioneers in the field of
coherent nonlinear laser science for more than twenty-five years. His
research has focused on the development and application of various
laser-matter interaction studies and quantum optics in fields including
plasmas, optical phase conjugation, atomic and molecular spectroscopy,
condensed matter physics, protein folding and quantum computing. This work
has generated over 4000 citations.
Prof. Steel is a Fellow of APS, IEEE, and the Optical Society of America.
He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and more recently the Frank
Isakson Prize for Optical Effects in Solids, which is the highest prize
awarded by the American Physical Society for solid state optics.
In the area of teaching, Prof. Steel developed the full year graduate
course, Applied Quantum Mechanics, to emphasize problem solving in important
emerging areas in technology including nano-science, computing, and
communications. He also developed the graduate level course, Quantum Optics,
to teach the basics of laser physics, spectroscopy, and quantum optics.
Posted: February 26, 2010 by
Catharine June
EECS/ECE Communications Coordinator
cmsj@umich.edu or 734-936-2965
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