Rate My Professor Fatima Toor

Toor's research specializes in photonics at the intersection of optical engineering, materials engineering, quantum physics, and electromagnetics, focusing on engineering electrons, photons, and phonons in micro- and nano-structured semiconductors, metals, dielectrics, and polymers to develop devices for photovoltaics, biosensors, mid-infrared light emitters, and fundamental science. Applications span health (precision surgical lasers, cancer biosensors), environment (soil nitrate sensors), and energy (solar thermophotovoltaics). She has founded MIRTHz Photonics, Inc. (2025, President and CTO for mid-IR/THz photonics), serves as Vice President at Juggernaut Life Sciences, Inc. (quantum mid-IR lasers for surgery), and was co-founder/Vice President of Firefly Photonics, LLC (2018-2023, mid-IR LEDs). Awards include Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors (2026, inducted locally 2023), University of Iowa medallion for exceptional research mentoring and productivity, Senior Member of Optica and SPIE, and memberships in AAAS, APS, IEEE, ASLMS. She chaired the Faculty Senate Research Council (2022-2024) and serves on the NAI local advisory committee. Key publications are 'Predicted power output of silicon-based bifacial tandem photovoltaic systems' (Joule, 2020), 'Sensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein using vertically-oriented silicon nanowire array-based biosensor' (Sensing and Bio-Sensing Research, 2022), 'Mid-infrared absorption by soft tissue sarcoma and cell ablation utilizing a mid-infrared interband cascade laser' (Journal of Biomedical Optics, 2021), 'Non-destructive characterization of silicon nanowires and nanowire coatings using mid-infrared spectroscopy' (Applied Physics Letters, 2024), and 'Modeling for neurosurgical laser interstitial thermal therapy' (Current Research in Neurobiology, 2024).