Tingyi Gu, MS’10, PhD’14 has been awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)—the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding early-career scientists and engineers. She was recognized for her pioneering contributions to silicon photonics, particularly in advancing hybrid nanophotonic devices for optical communication, sensing, and space applications.
Awarded annually since 1996, the PECASE honors early-career researchers who demonstrate exceptional promise for leadership in science and engineering. Gu, who earned her Columbia degrees in electrical engineering, is among nearly 400 scientists and engineers recognized by former President Biden in 2025, reflecting the administration’s commitment to advancing federally funded research and innovation.
Now an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Delaware, Gu specializes in developing integrated photonic devices that utilize light particles instead of electrons for faster, more efficient data processing. Her research has broad applications, including enhancing computer memory, biomedical imaging, and autonomous navigation. Her team has even conducted space experiments using miniaturized optical input/output components, validating their potential for navigation and remote sensing in extreme environments.
Gu credits her time at Columbia Engineering for shaping her interdisciplinary research approach. “I am so grateful for the early training at Columbia, which exposed me to multi-disciplinary research in a collaborative environment. It planted the seeds for my vision—spanning from materials to system-level innovations,” she said.
Her Columbia mentors included Professors Keren Bergman, James Hone, and Ioannis Kymissis, and her PhD research, advised by Chee Wei Wong, focused on graphene-enabled nanophotonic and optoelectronic devices. After Columbia, she conducted postdoctoral research at Princeton University’s Center for Complex Materials, as well as industrial research at Bell Labs and HP Labs.
Gu has received multiple prestigious honors, including the NSF CAREER award, Army Research Office Young Investigator Program Award, NASA Early Career Faculty Award, and DARPA Young Faculty Award.
