Svetlana V. Boriskina

OSA Board of Director Svetlana V. Boriskina is a Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Originally from the Ukraine, Boriskina holds a Ph.D. degree in Physics and Mathematics from the Kharkiv National University (KNU), one of leading research universities in the former USSR. She worked at the University of Nottingham in the UK, at KNU, and at Boston University (BU) prior to joining MIT in 2012

Dr. Boriskina’s research blends nanophotonics, plasmonics, thermodynamics and mechanics to explore light-matter interactions on the nanoscale. She currently leads several research projects at MIT aimed at the development of smart photon-managing fabrics that provide thermal comfort indoors and outdoors, new meta-materials that manipulate light in unusual ways, and novel solar harvesting platforms to generate clean energy and provide fresh water to off-electrical-grid and disaster-stricken communities. Dr. Boriskina has authored over 100 publications and holds many patents on optical sensor and photon energy conversion systems.  She received a Joint Award of the International Commission for Optics and the A. Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, a NATO-UK Royal Society Fellowship, and a SUMMA Graduate Fellowship in Electromagnetics. She has also been dedicated to student mentorship and teaching, having guided dozens of middle-to-grad-school student mentees during her career in academia. Boriskina has also developed and taught award-winning new courses in optics and photonics at the graduate and undergraduate level at KNU, BU, and MIT.

Dr. Boriskina has been a member of The Optical Society for nearly two decades, and a Senior Member since 2012. In 2007, she helped establish an OSA Student Chapter at KNU, and served as the Chapter Faculty Advisor. Over the years, Boriskina served as a member of the OSA Membership and Education Council, the Chair of the OSA Technical Group “Optics for Energy,” the Chair of the Esther Hoffman Beller Medal Committee, and the Chair or a Member of technical program committees at various OSA meetings, symposia, and conferences. She currently is as a Member of the OSA Meetings Council, a Member of the Optics and Photonics News Editorial Advisory Board, and an Associate Editor at the Optics Express.