Daniel Mittleman, professor of engineering who studies frequencies in the terahertz range, has received an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Award for 2018.
Brown Professor of Engineering Daniel Mittleman is a 2018 recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Award. The foundation grants up to 100 such awards each year to researchers from around the world to support collaborative projects with scientists and researchers in Germany. The awards are granted to researchers "whose fundamental discoveries, new theories, or insights have had a significant impact on their own discipline and who are expected to continue producing cutting-edge achievements in the future."
Mittleman was recognized for his work on the science and technology of terahertz radiation. The award will support ongoing research and enable new partnerships involving devices for terahertz wireless communications and non-linear terahertz spectroscopy of materials. He will collaborate with Professor Martin Koch at the University of Marburg, a collaboration that began many years ago.
"I am honored to receive this prestigious award from the Humboldt Foundation," Mittleman said. It will provide me with the opportunity to extend my long-standing research collaboration with Professor Koch, as well as to build new collaborations with other groups in Germany who are doing cutting-edge research in terahertz science and technology. Many of my current research interests overlap strongly with ongoing work in Germany, including not only my group's work in terahertz wireless systems, but also terahertz high-field science and terahertz nano-spectroscopy."
Mittleman received his B.S. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1988, and his M.S. in 1990 and Ph.D. in 1994, both from the University of California, Berkeley, under the direction of Dr. Charles Shank. He then joined AT&T Bell Laboratories as a post-doctoral member of the technical staff, working first for Dr. Richard Freeman on a terawatt laser system, and then for Dr. Martin Nuss on terahertz spectroscopy and imaging.
Mittleman joined the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Rice University in September 1996, before moving to the School of Engineering at Brown University in 2015. He is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America, the American Physical Society, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and is currently serving a three-year term as Chair of the International Society for Infrared Millimeter and Terahertz Waves.
Brown Professor of Engineering Sharvan Kumar was a 2015 recipient of the award.