Islam, Saif

UC Davis
UC Davis Electrical and Computer Engineering logo
Menu

Biography

Professor Saif Islam received his B.Sc. Degree in Physics from Middle East Technical University (1994, Turkey), an M.Sc. degree in Physics from Bilkent University (1996, Turkey), an M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering in 1999, and a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering in 2001, both from UCLA. He worked for the Optical Networking Research group of JDS Uniphase Corporation and the Quantum Science Research group of the Hewlett-Packard Laboratories during 2001-04. In 2004, he joined the University of California – Davis, where he is now a Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department. He served as the Vice-Chair during 2011-13 and as the Chair of his department during 2017–20. He served as the Director of the Northern California Nanotechnology Center during 2012-15. Currently, he serves as the director of the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and the Banatao Institute at UC Davis. Prof. Islam co-founded two start-up companies based on his inventions with the support of UC Davis, the University of California Office of the President, and the Nevada Institute for Renewable Energy Commercialization (NIREC).

Prof. Saif Islam’s nanotechnology research focuses on synthesizing and incorporating low-dimensional and nanostructured semiconductor and oxide materials and devices with conventional integrated circuit (IC) elements and systems. Unlike the research-based approach of sequentially processing individual nanostructures for device physics studies, his group employs massively parallel and mass-manufacturable nanofabrication methods to reproducibly fabricate low-cost nanodevice arrays. The applications include integrated nanoelectronics and ultra-fast optoelectronics, data communication, quantum sensing, computing, energy harvesting, disease sensing, energy storage computational imaging and machine vision.

Prof. Islam has authored and co-authored more than 250 scientific papers, organized 33 scientific conferences and symposiums as a chair/co-chair sponsored by MRS, SPIE, and IEEE, and holds 42 US and international patents as an inventor/co-inventor. He received the NSF Faculty Early Career Award; Outstanding Junior, Outstanding Mid-Career Research and Outstanding Senior Research Faculty Awards of the College of Engineering; IEEE Professor of the Year, and the University of California – Davis Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award- the highest teaching honor the University of California-Davis bestows on its faculties. Dr. Islam has served as a Senior Editor of IEEE Access and Associate Editors for IEEE Photonics Journal and IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology. He is an elected fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Optical Society of America (OSA), International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE), and the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

Link to CV

Education

  • Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 2001
  • M.S. in Electrical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 1999
  • M.Sc. in Physics, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey, 1996
  • B.Sc. in Physics with High Honors, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, 1994

Professional Experience

  • Director, The Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and the Banatao Institute at UC Davis
  • Professor, University of California, Davis, Electrical & Computer Engineering 2011-Present
  • Professor and Chair, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Univ of California, Davis, CA, 2017-20.
  • Director, Northern California Nanotechnology Center NCNC (renamed Center for Nano & Micro-Manufacturing – CNMM), 2012-14
  • Vice Chair, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Univ of California, Davis, CA, 2011-13
  • Associate Professor, University of California, Davis, Electrical & Computer Engineering 2008-11
  • Assistant Professor, University of California, Davis, Electrical & Computer Engineering 2004-08
  • Postdoc Research Fellow, Hewlett-Packard Labs, Quantum Science Research Lab, 2002-04
  • Adjunct Assistant Professor, San Jose State University, Electrical & Computer Engineering, 2002-03
  • Senior Scientist, Gazilllion Bits, Inc., San Jose, CA 2001-02
  • Staff Scientist, Optical Networking Research, JDS Uniphase Corporation/SDL Inc., 2000-01

Honors and Awards:

  • Aden and Marjorie Meinel Technology Achievement Award: SPIE, 2024 Link
  • Outstanding Senior Research Faculty Award, College of Engineering, UC Davis, 2022, Link
  • Fellow: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 2020 Link
  • Fellow: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2018 Link
  • Fellow: National Academy of Inventors (NAI), 2014 Link
  • Fellow: Optical Society of America (OSA) 2018 Link
  • Sacramento Region Innovation Award, 2018 Link
  • Fellow: International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) 2017 Link
  • Best Ph.D. Dissertation Mentor: Nano-bridges for the Fabrication of 3D Gate-All-Around Field-Effect Transistors, 2014 Link
  • Outstanding Mid-career Research Faculty Award, College of Engineering, UC Davis, 2012, Link
  • Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award: The Highest Teaching Honor University of California Davis Bestows on its Faculties, 2010, Link
  • IEEE Best Paper Award, IEEEICE, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2010
  • IEEE Outstanding Professor of the Year, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, 2005 and 2009
  • Outstanding Junior Faculty Award, College of Engineering, UC Davis, 2006.
  • NSF Faculty Early CAREER Development Award, 2006-11.
  • University of California Chancellor’s Fellowship, 2000 Link
  • IEEE Laser and Electro-Optic Society (IEEE/LEOS) Fellowship, 2000, News Link
  • President’s Award: The President of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh (1989) for ranking first in both secondary (SSC) and higher secondary (HSC) exams in entire Bangladesh (Rajshahi Cadet College)

Professional Activities:

  • Senior Editor: IEEE Access (2020-2023)
  • Guest Editor: MRS Bulletin Special Issue on Materials for ultra-efficient, high-speed optoelectronics, 2022
  • Associate Editor: IEEE Photonics Journal,  IEEE Transaction of Nanotechnology (2014-2018), IEEE Access (2016-20), Journal of Nanophotonics, (2007-8), Nanophotonics for Communications
  • Editorial Board: (i) Science of Advanced Materials, (ii) Nano Communications
  • Conference Chair, Nanosensing Materials, Devices and Systems 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007; Nanomaterial Synthesis and Integration for Sensors, Electronics, Photonics, and Electro-Optics 2005, 2006, 2007; Nanophotonics for Communication: Materials, Devices and Systems 2006, 2007; Micro-Nanotechnology Sensors, Systems, and Applications 2009- 2019; Nanoepitaxy: Homo and Heterogeneous Synthesis, Characterization and Device Integration of Nanomaterials 2009, 2010-2019.
  • Symposium Co-organizer,  MRS Negative Index materials: Microwave to Optical, 2006 & Nanocontacts, 2012
  • Guest Editor, (a) International Journal of Nanotechnology, 2006-7, Focused Issue on Nanosensors, (b)Applied Physics A: Materials Science & Processing, 2006-7, Focused Issue on Negative Index Materials