Jelena Vučković facts for kids

Jelena Vučković is a brilliant scientist and professor at Stanford University in the United States. She was born in Serbia. She is a leader in the field of nanophotonics and quantum information technologies. This means she studies how light behaves at a super tiny scale. She also explores how we can use light for amazing new technologies.

Professor Vučković leads a special lab called the Nanoscale and Quantum Photonics (NQP) Lab. She is also a member of several other important research groups at Stanford. She helped start the Q-FARM initiative, which focuses on quantum science. She is recognized by many important scientific groups, including the National Academy of Sciences.

Early Life and Education

Jelena Vučković was born in Niš, Serbia. She started her university studies at the University of Niš. Later, she moved to the United States to continue her education.

She earned her Master's degree in 1997. Then, she received her PhD in Electrical Engineering in 2002. Both of these degrees were from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). After finishing her PhD, she worked as a researcher at Stanford University. In 2003, she became an Assistant Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department at Stanford.

Career and Research

Today, Jelena Vučković is a top professor at Stanford University. She holds the title of Jensen Huang Professor in Global Leadership. She is a professor of Electrical Engineering and also works with the Applied Physics department.

She is the main leader of the Nanoscale and Quantum Photonics (NQP) Lab at Stanford. Her lab focuses on cutting-edge research. She is also involved with other research centers like Ginzton Lab and Bio-X.

Her research explores many exciting areas. These include nanophotonics, which is about controlling light at the smallest scales. She also works on quantum information and quantum optics. These fields are about using the strange rules of quantum physics to create new technologies. This could lead to super-powerful computers and secure communication.

Professor Vučković's lab created a special computer program called Spins. This software helps design tiny devices that use light. It uses smart math to find the best possible designs. These designs make devices that work better and are smaller. She holds 15 patents for her inventions.

From 2021 to 2023, Professor Vučković was the head of the Stanford Department of Electrical Engineering. This shows her leadership in the field.

Awards and Honors

Jelena Vučković has received many important awards for her scientific work. These awards show how much her contributions are valued.

• Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) (2006)
• Humboldt Prize (2010)
• Marko V. Jaric award for outstanding achievements in physics (2012)
• Hans Fischer Senior Fellow, Technical University Munich, Germany (2013)
• Fellow, American Physical Society (2015)
• Fellow, The Optical Society (2015)
• Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (2018)
• Distinguished Scholar, Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics (2019)
• Recipient, IET A F Harvey Prize (2019)
• Recipient, James P. Gordon Memorial Speakership, Optica (2020)
• Mildred Dresselhaus Lecturer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2021)
• Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellow, United States Department of Defense (2022)
• Member, National Academy of Sciences (2023)