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2025 C.E.K. Mees Medal Winner

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Optica Names Keren Bergman the 2025 C.E.K. Mees Medal Recipient

Optica is pleased to announce that Keren Bergman, Columbia University, USA, has been selected as the 2025 recipient of the C.E.K. Mees Medal. Bergman is honored for pioneering research on optical interconnects and photonic architectures for high-performance computing.

Bergman is currently the Charles Batchelor Professor of Electrical Engineering and serves as the Faculty Director of the Columbia Nano Initiative at Columbia University. As director of Columbia’s Lightwave Research Laboratory, Bergman leads multiple research programs on optical interconnection networks for advanced computing systems, data centers, optical packet-switched routers, and nanophotonic networks-on-chip for chip multiprocessors.

She is developing a new class of nanoscale photonic interconnect technologies that seamlessly move data from on-chip networks, across memory and large computing systems with extreme energy efficiency. These future platforms, driven by nanophotonic-enabled interconnectivity and the enormous bandwidth advantage of dense wavelength division multiplexing, will fundamentally transform the computation-communications architecture, to create systems able to meet explosive information demands at all scales.

Bergman received a BS in electrical engineering from Bucknell University and a PhD in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the recipient of the IEEE Photonics Engineering Award and is a Fellow of Optica and IEEE.

Established in 1961, the Mees Medal recognizes an original use of optics across multiple fields. It honors the memory of C.E.K Mees who contributed preeminently to the development of scientific photography, and was a charter member of the Society. The medal was endowed by the Mees family.

About Optica

Optica, Advancing Optics and Photonics Worldwide, is the society dedicated to promoting the generation, application, archiving and dissemination of knowledge in the field. Founded in 1916, it is the leading organization for scientists, engineers, business professionals, students and others interested in the science of light. Optica's renowned publications, meetings, online resources and in-person activities fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate scientific, technical and educational achievement.

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