LASER PIONEERS
By Chrys Panayiotou, Ed.D.
Executive Director and Principal Investigator of LASER-TEC

M.J. Soileau received his PhD in Quantum Electronics from the University of Southern California, and is currently a University Distinguished Professor of Optics and Photonics, Electrical and
Computer Engineering, and Physics at the University of Central Florida. He is known for his pioneering research in nonlinear interaction of laser pulses with optical materials and for leading the development of the internationally recognized Center for Research and Education in Optics and
Lasers (CREOL) at UCF. Soileau holds 6 U.S. patents, the applications of which have contributed to
the advancement of high energy laser optics used by the United States Department of Defense. His
leadership has helped UCF become a catalyst for the region’s high-tech development, stimulating
the local economy in central Florida. He is a Fellow of IEEE, the SPIE–The International Optical
Engineering Society, and the Optical Society of America. M.J. has been honored as a Foreign
Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, inducted to the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame, is a
Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, received the SPIE Gold Medal Award, and the OSA
Esther Hoffman Beller Award.

I talked to Dr. Soileau about his personal experiences in the early days of the invention of the laser and his journey through the last 60 years of laser history.

Read the article here: https://issuu.com/marketlia/docs/lia_today_jan-feb_2019