Michal Lipson is a physicist whose pioneering contributions to silicon photonics have transformed optical technologies. She received her B.S. in Physics in 1992, M.S. in Physics in 1994, and Ph.D. in Physics in 1998 from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. From 1999 to 2001, she held a postdoctoral position in the Department of Materials Science at MIT. In 2001, Lipson joined Cornell University as Assistant Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, advancing to Associate Professor in 2007 and Given Professor of Engineering in 2013. During her tenure at Cornell, she developed critical components for silicon photonics, including GHz-speed modulators, ring resonators, slot waveguides, and techniques for all-optical control of light on silicon chips. Notable publications from this period include "All-optical control of light on a silicon chip" (Nature, 2004), "Micrometre-scale silicon electro-optic modulator" (Nature, 2005), "Broadband Optical Parametric Gain on a Silicon Photonic Chip" (Nature, 2006), and "Guiding and Confining Light in Void Nanostructure" (Optics Letters, 2004). Her innovations enabled ultrahigh bandwidth, low-power data transfer on chip, with applications in supercomputers and optical interconnects.

Lipson's research extends to optomechanics, where she demonstrated synchronization of distant nanophotonic cavities; nonlinear and quantum optics; novel photonic materials; nano-magnetism; thermal control; nanophotonics for neuroscience; and sensing. She has co-authored over 250 scientific publications, holds more than 45 patents, and has been recognized as a top 1% highly cited researcher in Physics every year since 2014 by Thomson Reuters. Major awards include the NSF CAREER Award (2004), IBM Faculty Award (2006), Fulbright Fellowship (2007), Optical Society Fellow (2007), Blavatnik Award (2010), MacArthur Fellowship (2010), IEEE Fellow (2013), R. W. Wood Prize (2017), IEEE Photonics Award (2019), NAS Comstock Prize in Physics (2019), election to the National Academy of Sciences (2019), John Tyndall Award (2021), and National Academy of Engineering (2025). In 2015, she joined Columbia University as Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering and Professor of Applied Physics. She served as President of Optica in 2023.

Professional Email: ml3745@columbia.edu