Optics: The Engine of the Information Age

We live in a world where the quantity of information that we have access to is expanding rapidly, and this trend will only increase with the advent of new applications ranging from the Internet of Things (IoT) to augmented/virtual reality. We will discuss how integrated photonics will play an increasing role optical communications, primarily for data, how solar energy can address some of the challenges presented by the massive scaling of data centers, and how new infrared transparent polymers will create new opportunities for low-cost sensors that will support the IoT

Biography: Dr. Robert A. Norwood is a Professor in the College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona, where he performs research on photonic devices, in particular solar energy, polymer photonics and silicon photonics. Dr. Norwood spent 15 years in leadership positions in industry at both Fortune 100 corporations (Honeywell) and venture-capital backed startups (Photon-X). He has more than 180 refereed publications and 39 issued US patents. He is both an Optical Society of America Fellow and an SPIE Fellow. He holds the Ph. D. in physics from the University of Pennsylvania, and the B.S. in physics and mathematics from MIT.