Rate My Professor Fatima Toor

Fatima Toor is the Lowell G. Battershell Endowed Chair in Laser Engineering and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering at The University of Iowa, holding a secondary appointment as Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. She is an affiliate member of the MATFab Facility and the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center's Experimental and Redox Therapeutics program, as well as Director of the Toor Lab. Toor earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University in 2009 and 2006, respectively, with minors in physics and Science Technology and Environmental Policy, and a B.S. with double majors in Engineering Sciences and Physics from Smith College in 2004. Her early career included summer internships at IBM T. J. Watson Research Laboratory working on crystalline silicon microelectronics fabrication and nanoimprint lithography, a postdoctoral position in the Silicon Materials and Devices group at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory improving nanoporous black crystalline silicon solar cell efficiency, and a role as Research Analyst at Lux Research advising on solar industry innovations.

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).