Professor Howard Lee named 2025 Optica Fellow
"I’d like to thank my group members, collaborators, nominators, former advisors and family to for all their support as I receive this honor," said Lee.
Today, Professor Howard Lee of the UC Irvine Department of Physics & Astronomy was named a 2025 Optica Fellow – one of the world’s leading societies dedicated to the fields of optics and photonics. Optica announced that this year’s cohort of fellows includes 121 of its members from around the world; altogether, only about 10 percent of Optica’s members are fellows of the society. Lee’s lab researches ultrathin meta-optics for advanced optical sciences and imaging system and nano-scale optical fibers used in surgeries and other medical situations, and Lee’s selection as a fellow reflects his group’s consistent record of excellence in these areas. “Since I began to work in photonic research as an undergraduate, I have been getting involved with the optical society and have been working with many optical scientists and Fellows who I admire, including my Ph.D. advisor Philip Russell, who’s a former president of Optica,” said Lee. “It is my real honor to be elected as Optica Fellow.” Lee, who joined UC Irvine in 2020, is a member of the UC Irvine Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic as well as the Eddleman Quantum Institute. Last year, Lee received a Partnership for Innovation Award from the National Science Foundation, which granted Lee and his lab $550,000 to continue to advance their optical fiber work.