Skala, Yu elected as Optical Society Fellows

The Optical Society has included two accomplished UW-Madison College of Engineering faculty members in its 2020 Fellows Class.

Melissa Skala, an associate professor of biomedical engineering and investigator at the Morgridge Institute for Research, and Zongfu Yu, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, Dugald C. Jackson faculty and Vilas Associate, are among 94 new fellows. Fellow status is limited to no more than 10% of the society’s membership and recognizes achievement in the fields of optics and photonics.

Skala, who joined the college in 2016, has used molecular imaging in cancer research—helping to develop personalized treatment plans for patients—and ophthalmology. In 2019, both the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and SPIE elected her as a fellow. She also previously received a National Science Foundation CAREER award in 2016.

Yu, who joined the college in 2013, is a photonics expert and has received a number of awards, including a 2018 CAREER award from the National Science Foundation to research new light sensors for cameras that could assist in machine vision. He’s also a leader on groundbreaking research, such as a July 2019 Photonics Research publication on using carefully placed impurities to turn glass into a “smart” device capable of recognizing image inputs.