Graduate Student Awarded $3K Scholarship

Abhishek Kumar Cited for Research in Optics, Photonics

Abhishek Kumar, second from right, poses with, from left, Science Dean Robert Tamarin, Sheila and Susan Tripathy and Prof. Jayant Kumar during this year’s Tripathy Memorial Endowed Graduate Fellowship award ceremony.

Abhishek Kumar, second from right, poses with, from left, Science Dean Robert Tamarin, Sheila and Susan Tripathy and Prof. Jayant Kumar during this year’s Tripathy Memorial Endowed Graduate Fellowship award ceremony.

07/06/2011
By
Edwin_Aguirre


Physics graduate student Abhishek Kumar has been awarded a $3,000 scholarship by the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) for his potential contribution to optics and photonics, or a related discipline.

Kumar has been involved in developing optical sensors for detecting traces of explosives in the air and in studying the optical properties of some naturally occurring organic materials for bio-imaging. He works with Prof. Jayant Kumar (to whom he’s not related) at UMass Lowell’s Center for Advanced Materials (CAM).

He is also one of the recipients of this year’s Tripathy Memorial Endowed Graduate Fellowship, which recognizes academic accomplishments and multidisciplinary research in materials science and polymer science. His paper entitled “Layer-by-layer deposition of nanoscale structures” was published in 2009 in the Journal of Nanophotonics. 

“Prof. Kumar, who is my Ph.D. adviser, gave me lot of latitude and freedom to explore and broaden my scientific horizon,” says Abhishek Kumar. “I am thankful to him and the faculty and staff at the CAM and the Department of Physics for all their help in providing me a very conducive environment to do research. I would also like to thank SPIE for recognizing our research work and giving me this prestigious award.”

Founded in 1955, SPIE is an international organization dedicated to advancing light-based technologies. It has more than 180,000 members in 168 countries.