Dr. Andrea Alù is a distinguished leader in photonics and metamaterials research, currently serving as the Einstein Professor of Physics at The City University of New York Graduate Center, Founding Director of the Photonics Initiative at the Advanced Science Research Center, and Professor of Electrical Engineering at City College. Born in Italy in 1978, he completed his Laurea, MS, and PhD in electronic engineering at the University of Roma Tre, followed by postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining CUNY in 2018, he was the Temple Foundation Endowed Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, where he established a renowned research program in metamaterials and plasmonics. His rapid ascent in academia reflects his extraordinary contributions to the field and his ability to bridge physics and engineering disciplines in innovative ways.
Dr. Alù is best known for his groundbreaking work on invisibility cloaking, where he realized the first freestanding three-dimensional invisibility cloak that makes objects transparent to incoming microwave signals, fundamentally advancing the field of electromagnetic manipulation. His development of the first nonreciprocal acoustic circulator, a one-way sound device, has opened new pathways for controlling wave phenomena across multiple physical domains including acoustics, mechanics, and photonics. With over 103,000 citations according to Google Scholar and more than 650 frequently cited journal publications, his discoveries in metamaterials and plasmonics have had profound implications for defense, communications, medical imaging, and robotics applications. His receipt of the prestigious Alan T. Waterman Award in 2015 recognized his transformative contributions to metamaterial theory and design, including insightful work on plasmonic cloaking and breaking time reversal symmetry.
Beyond his research achievements, Dr. Alù has significantly shaped the global photonics community through his leadership as Founding Director of the Photonics Initiative at CUNY's Advanced Science Research Center, where he has fostered interdisciplinary collaborations across multiple scientific domains. He serves as an Associate Editor for Applied Physics Letters and several other prestigious journals, while maintaining active roles in major professional societies as a Fellow of Optica, IEEE, SPIE, and APS. His mentorship has cultivated the next generation of scientists in photonics and metamaterials research, with his highly cited work continuing to influence both academic and industrial applications worldwide. Currently, Dr. Alù's research continues to push the boundaries of wave physics and materials science, with ongoing projects exploring extreme wave phenomena and novel applications of metamaterials in quantum technologies and biomedical imaging.
