Photonics research across borders: opportunities and challenges of globalization
The unavoidable globalization of our society is currently also echoed in research. In this talk, I will provide my perspective of working in four countries (three continents) while performing research in both academia and national laboratories and collaborating with industries. I will present suggestions on how to (i) quickly adjust to different working cultures, (ii) navigate language barriers to effectively communicate, and (iii) foster knowledge when exchanging ideas while pondering the ascending interdependence of countries. Junior investigators in photonics are living in exciting times to advance innovation and can excel upon adjusting themselves to the current, global landscape in research.
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- 9500 Gilman Dr
- La Jolla, California
- United States 92093
- Building: Jacobs School of Engineering
- Room Number: 2512
- Click here for Map
- Starts 03 March 2026 08:00 AM UTC
- Ends 13 March 2026 07:00 AM UTC
- No Admission Charge
Speakers
Marina
Photonics research across borders: opportunities and challenges of globalization
Biography:
Leite is a Professor in Materials Science and Engineering and a Chancellor’s Fellow at UC Davis (USA). She has >80 publications (with 35 journal covers) and has delivered >200 invited talks at conferences and research institutions around the globe. Leite is a Fellow of Optica and of SPIE, a senior member of IEEE and a 2026 IEEE Photonics Lectureship Awardee, an associate editor of APL Materials, a 2025 ACS Energy Lectureship Award finalist, an awardee of the 2016 APS Ovshinsky Sustainable Energy Fellowship from the American Physical Society, and of the 2014 Maryland Academy of Sciences Outstanding Young Scientist Award. Her research interests encompass materials for sustainability and for photonics (including transient devices and photonics switchability), the visualization of dynamic processes at the nanoscale in unconventional semiconductors and the use of AI to forecast their behavior. Before joining UC Davis, Leite was an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. She also worked at NIST and was a post-doctoral scholar at Caltech. Under her guidance, the researchers in the group have received 97 awards in the last 13 years, including 11 NSF graduate fellowships. Leite’s research has been supported by several programs from NSF, DARPA, and by the ARO.