Arti Agrawal facts for kids

Arti Agrawal is a smart scientist and engineer. She is known for her work with computer models of light and for helping everyone feel welcome in STEM fields. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. She has won many awards for her important work.

Right now, Arti Agrawal is a professor at the University of Technology Sydney. She also leads a program there called Women in Engineering and Information Technology. She helps make sure that all people, especially women, have a chance to succeed in science and engineering.

Early life and education

Arti Agrawal was born in New Delhi, India. She loved learning about science. In 2005, she earned her Ph.D. in Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. A Ph.D. is a very high degree you can get at a university. For her Ph.D., she studied how light beams travel through special guides. Her teacher was Anurag Sharma.

After that, she received a special scholarship called a Royal Society Postdoctoral Fellowship. This allowed her to study new types of light-guiding fibers in London. She worked at the City, University of London for almost ten years. There, she was a researcher, a teacher, and helped students working on their own Ph.D.s.

Research and career

Arti Agrawal has written or edited many books about using computers to understand light. She has also written over 50 articles for science journals. These articles share her research with other scientists. She teaches classes about physics, how light works (optics), and engineering.

Her special skills include using computer methods to solve problems. She also knows a lot about solar cells, which turn sunlight into electricity. She studies tiny light structures called nanophotonics and how light behaves in unusual ways. She also works with biomedical optics, which uses light for medical purposes.

Helping everyone in STEM

Arti Agrawal cares a lot about making STEM fields open to everyone. She works with many groups to help with this. She reaches out to young students to get them interested in science. She also helps create chances for women to get internships and scholarships. She has started groups for people to meet and share ideas. She also helps organize science conferences.

She is now leading a whole department focused on helping women in STEM. She works hard to support women, people from different backgrounds, and people who identify as LGBTQ+. Her goal is to make sure everyone has a fair chance to learn and work in science and engineering.

Awards and honors

Arti Agrawal has received many awards for her important work:

• She was recognized by The Optical Society for always working to make optics and photonics welcoming for everyone.
• She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Physics.
• She is a Senior member of OSA.
• She is a Senior member of the IEEE Photonics Society.
• In 2020, she received a Distinguished Service Award from the IEEE Photonics Society. This was for her great work in leading efforts for diversity and inclusion.
• She won an Excellence in Teaching award from the City, University of London.
• She was an OSA Ambassador in 2016.

Academic service

Arti Agrawal also helps lead many science groups:

• She is the Associate Vice President of Diversity for the IEEE Photonics Society.
• She is a chair and board member for the Membership Engagement and Development Council at OSA.
• She is an editor for the IEEE Photonics Journal.
• She is a section editor for the Journal of the European Optical Society.
• She helped organize the Women in Engineering Symposium in 2019.
• She started the GWN (Multicultural group) in 2009.

Selected publications

Here are some of the books and articles Arti Agrawal has written:

• Recent Trends in Computational Photonics, Springer (2017)
• Finite Element Time Domain Methods for Photonics, Springer (2017)
• "Hut-like pillar array Si solar cells," Solar Energy (2016)
• "Golden spiral photonic crystal fiber: polarization and dispersion properties," Optics Letters (2008)
• "New method for nonparaxial beam propagation," Journal of the Optical Society of America A (2004)

Personal life

Arti Agrawal has worked with many groups to support all students, especially those from diverse backgrounds, in STEM. She also writes a personal blog where she shares her thoughts on science, fairness, and teaching.

See also

In Spanish: Arti Agrawal para niños