Rate My Professor Juliet Gopinath

Juliet Gopinath is the Alfred T. and Betty E. Look Endowed Professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, with courtesy appointments in the Physics Department. She earned a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1998, followed by an S.M. in 2000 and a Ph.D. in 2005, both in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After completing her doctorate, Gopinath worked as a Technical Staff Member in the Laser Technology and Applications Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory from 2005 to 2009. She joined the University of Colorado Boulder in 2009 as an Assistant Professor, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2017, received the endowed professorship in 2019, and advanced to full Professor in 2021. Her career also includes affiliations with Materials Science and Engineering.

Gopinath leads the Optics and Photonics Research Group, specializing in ultrafast and high-power continuous-wave and pulsed lasers, beam combining, mid-infrared sources and materials, spectroscopy of semiconductors and novel materials, rare-earth doped media, micro- and optofluidics, and orbital angular momentum of light. Current projects encompass adaptive optics, LIDAR systems, pulsed and continuous-wave sources overcoming fundamental laser constraints, and applications in sensors, communications, medical imaging and surgery, water purification, and environmental monitoring. She has authored numerous key publications, including “Recent advances in stimulated emission depletion (STED) superresolution microscopy for in vivo imaging” in APL Photonics (2026), “Ultrahigh-Q chalcogenide micro-racetrack resonators” in Applied Physics Letters (2026), “Impact of Mechanically Applied Strain on Auger Recombination in InGaAs Multiple Quantum Wells” in Applied Physics Letters (2025), “Nonmechanical spectral domain optical coherence tomography using an electrowetting beam-scanner” in Optics Express (2025), and “Tunable liquid lens for three-photon excitation microscopy” in Biomedical Optics Express (2024). Her contributions have earned the NSF CAREER Award (2016), Optica Fellow status (2021), R&D 100 Award (2012), University of Colorado Boulder Provost Achievement Award (2016), University of Colorado Engineering Research Award (2025), and NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (1998-2001). Gopinath serves as Associate Editor for Optica since 2020 and previously for IEEE Photonics Society Journal (2011-2017), and she engages in teaching, outreach, and committee service, advancing interdisciplinary photonics and quantum engineering.