Donna T. Strickland

Class of 2021-2022

Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Waterloo
Ontario, Canada

Donna Strickland was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics for developing chirped pulse amplification. It’s now used in corrective eye surgery, industrial machining, and medical imaging, and it’s essential to most high-powered laser facilities. She shared the prize with French physicist Gérard Mourou. Strickland is only the third woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Strickland is a recipient of a Sloan Research Fellowship, a Premier’s Research Excellence Award, and a Cottrell Scholar Award. She is a fellow of the Optical Society, the Royal Society of Canada, and the International Society for Optics and Photonics. In addition, she is an honorary fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering as well as the Institute of Physics. Strickland is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and was recently appointed to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

Strickland will collaborate with faculty and students in the Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering, the College of Science, and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.