Professor Xingjie Ni receives Faculty Scholar Medal for outstanding scholarly, creative achievement
Professor Xingjie Ni is one of six University faculty members who received a 2026 Faculty Scholar Medals for Outstanding Achievement. This prestigious award was established in 1980 to recognize outstanding scholarly, creative achievement, either through a single major contribution or a sustained body of work around a coherent theme.
Ni is recognized for his leadership in nanophotonics, metamaterials and metasurfaces, and optical materials and devices. His research has advanced the understanding and engineering of light–matter interactions at the nanoscale and translated those advances into technologies with broad impact in sensing, compact imaging, communications, quantum technologies, and energy-efficient computing.
His recent work has been especially influential in three areas: optical computing for AI efficiency, deployable ultracompact meta-optics, and high-density integrated photonics. By redesigning how light is manipulated at the nanoscale, Ni’s group is enabling optical systems that are smaller, faster, and more energy efficient than conventional technologies. These advances include lighter high-performance imaging systems, single-shot imagers that capture rich spectral and polarization information, and photonic platforms that reduce the energy cost of AI and optical networks.
Nominators praised Ni’s ability to bridge fundamental science and manufacturable engineering, noting that his work does not simply improve existing devices, but opens entirely new design spaces beyond the reach of traditional optics and electronics.
Ni also maintains a strong record of research funding, mentoring, and professional service. His current work, as principal investigator or co-principal investigator, is supported by more than $11 million from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, NASA, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, Raytheon Technologies, and Sony Corporation. He is a Fellow of Optica and serves as an associate editor for Science Advances and the IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics.
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https://news.engr.psu.edu/2026/ni-xingjie-faculty-scholar-medal.aspx