Silicon photonics pioneer gets 'genius' award

9/29/2010 9:29 PM EDT

Don't know which is annoying, the "genius" term or the lack of restriction on spending 500 K.

9/29/2010 11:19 PM EDT

In Lipson's case, we have been reporting on her work since 2003, because it is so unique. The genius term for MacArthur awards may have arisen in the past to explain why obscure fields were being made such unrestricted awards--the theory being that genius sometimes sounds too far-fetched to get traditional funding. Lipson, however, is researching the same field that IBM, Intel and many other silicon chip makers--silicon photonics. However, she told me that she had some unique "fundamental topics" in mind--I'm betting some sort of new optical material. What would you do with an unrestricted $25,000 a quarter?

9/30/2010 1:14 AM EDT

It must have been the EETimes interview that did it.

9/30/2010 1:35 PM EDT

She could support a post-doc or 2 to 3 graduate students for fives years. That is not bad. I wonder if Cornell will take that 50% overhead.

9/30/2010 2:34 PM EDT

The recognition of our successes is something we all need more of, and the money is just part of it. I'm sure she will continue to astonish us in the future, congratulations.

9/30/2010 3:58 PM EDT

From the MacArthur Foundation Website:
The MacArthur Fellowships have been in existence since 1981 and so far has named 828 Fellows. There are three criteria for selection of MacArthur Fellows: exceptional creativity, promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishment, and potential for the fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work. Although nominees are reviewed for their achievements, the fellowship is not a reward for past accomplishment, but rather an investment in a person's originality, insight, and potential.

**************
The fellowships cover a wide range of disciplines. The complete list of 2010 fellows can be found at the following URL.
http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.6239749/k.1427/Meet_the_2010_Fellows.htm

In the Science area, you can see the entire list at http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.6225705/k.67C3/Browse_Fellows_by_Area.htm#a_sciences

I am sure EETimes readers would recognize many of them.

It would be an interesting study to see how these past Fellows have done vis a vis the 2nd and 3rd selection criteria. The MacArthur Foundation does not do any follow up, nor do they indicate in any way that they will or should. No strings attached is no strings attached.

Congratulations to all 2010 Fellows!

9/30/2010 5:02 PM EDT

who are the other 22 geniuses...anyone else related to semicon industry? Congratulations to Lipson!

9/30/2010 5:52 PM EDT

@Himanshu_Gupta, here is the full list with videos:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/28/meet-the-2010-macarthur-g_n_742001.html#s146143

Congrats to all the winners. I am envious.

9/30/2010 9:30 PM EDT

So it's 100K/yr for 5 yrs? Is it taxed? US citizen/resident restriction.

9/30/2010 11:49 PM EDT

It's really admirable that such young looking lady is so talented.
Congratulations to her and I hope she has some fun with that non restricted money! Though I bet her fun is in what she does.
Find a job you love and you'll never have to work.

9/30/2010 11:55 PM EDT

Oh yes this is remarkable.

10/1/2010 12:34 AM EDT

Feels good to hear women list in one of the big awards in technology. This is good for her research and students working under her and for the university too. She would have any way pursued her interests and this recognition makes it a little less daunting. No strings attached is good too in a way.
Congrats!

10/1/2010 2:39 AM EDT

The future is optical. In 25 years time from now onwards all the electrcity based that is volts and current based circuits operation will be replaced by the ight based lumens and wavelength based circuits which will operate 1000 times faster than the now circuits. Dr.Michal Lipson is pioneering this technology. Sure the award and reward to her and the team are the boosters and as such the thirst for crossing the boundaries in technology is Great Great and this is a BIG service to the Humanity Congradulations Dr.MichalLipson

10/1/2010 5:22 AM EDT

this Cornell group sure looks like a well maintained empire with lots of infra and structures to spend the money on. still hard to figure out the 'fundamental topics' from the PR... after all optical force or radiation pressure has been known to Maxwell back in 1871 and demonstrated by Lebedev in 1901.
but who knows maybe when agk's computers will run 1000 times faster the P=NP? will be already solved :)

10/1/2010 5:32 AM EDT

BTW, Clay Mathematics Institute will give you a million dollars for proving — or disproving "P=NP?", no strings attached!

10/1/2010 6:29 AM EDT

I like this kind of Awards, this give the researchers very good freedom of spending money in the directions they want without giving useless justification to the managing authorities.

10/1/2010 11:43 AM EDT

This is a great achievement for a woman! Now she can afford a trip to the hair salon
:-)

10/1/2010 4:23 PM EDT

Congrats. Congrats.

10/1/2010 7:47 PM EDT

Congratulations!

Now that you have conquered the micro-world, perhaps I could interest you in the macro-world related to harvesting sunlight.

10/2/2010 9:49 AM EDT

I think optics cannot beat silicon-based electronics for integration density. However, maybe it can win in speed? So instead of cramming more in same space, cram it in time (time-division multiplexing)?!

Then the other concern is power consumption. The development of highly efficient lasers, either VCSEL's or waveguide-type or even fiber type, should be highly encouraged.

I hope Ms. Lipson will find it easier to push these developments (which will definitely help her ongoing projects) with her well-deserved award.

10/2/2010 9:12 PM EDT

Sincere congratulations to Michal Lipson!!
What a smart person

10/4/2010 5:14 PM EDT

High Fives, Dr Lipson! I hope the Genius award is more aptly named than the Nobel Peace Prize.

12/23/2011 2:06 AM EST

Long term persistence of the "genius", greatly admire
http://www.wigsmarket.co.uk