Velten and Kats elected Optica fellows

Two electrical and computer engineering faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Associate Professor Andreas Velten and Jack St. Clair Kilby and Antoine-Bascom Professor Mikhail Kats, have been elected fellows of Optica, the leading society in the field of optics and photonics.

The pair are part of 121 members from 27 countries elected by the society to its 2025 Fellow Class. Fellows are Optica members who have served with distinction in the advancement of optics and photonics through distinguished contributions to education, research, engineering, business and society. They are selected through a highly competitive process.

Velten develops computational imaging systems that combine new hardware and software designs to collect and compute images in situations where regular imaging is impossible. This includes around corners, through fog or human tissues, in bright light and at long distances.

Optica cites Velten for “contributions to computational photography and bioimaging, including non-line-of-sight and clinical imaging.”

Kats engages in experimental and theoretical exploration of topics across the fields of optics and photonics, device physics, nanoscale science and quantum technologies. The goal of his research group is to investigate fundamental problems in optics and photonics and to create next-generation optical components to emit, modulate and detect light across the visible and infrared spectral ranges.

The society cites him for “pioneering contributions to tunable photonics, thermal photonics, and optical metasurfaces.”

The new fellows will be celebrated at various Optica sponsored events throughout 2025.

Other ECE faculty elected Optica fellows (formerly Optical Society of America) include Dan Botez (1995), Zhenqiang Ma (2018) and Zongfu Yu (2020).