University College Cork Professor Receives Edwin H. Land Medal

Nabeel Agha Riza, Ph.D. and Chair Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) at University College Cork (UCC), Ireland, has been awarded the 2019 Edwin H. Land Medal for the invention and commercialization of pioneering macro- and microscale imaging techniques across RF and optical wavelengths.

As a Caltech-educated industrial engineer, professor, entrepreneur, and volunteer, Riza has been a pioneering innovator in the field of photonics for more than 30 years. Riza’s inventions include the CAOS camera, fault-tolerant digital MEMS fiber optics, agile optical wireless, electronic lens-based vision testing and imaging, self-imaging fiber coupling model, liquid crystal and analog-digital fiber optic RF antenna control, agile pixel MEMS laser beam profiler and 3D analyzer, and hybrid design silicon carbide extreme thermometry.

Riza holds 46 patents — 28 as single inventor — and has been published internationally 334 times (including 154 journal papers) and presented 92 invited talks. For his high-impact inventions, Riza was inducted in 2017 into the U.S. National Academy of Inventors. He is a pioneer in the use of optical beam-forming techniques for RF imaging phased array radars and optical imagers.

Most recently, Riza invented the CAOS smart camera — a paradigm-changing imager design using principles of the RF mobile phone multiaccess wireless network that provides world record extreme linear dynamic range, inherent image security, extremely low interpixel crosstalk, and full spectral flexibility in one unit not possible in classic CMOS, CCD, and FPA cameras.

The Edwin H. Land Medal was established in 1992 by the Society for Imaging Science and Technology (IS&T) and The Optical Society (OSA) to honor Edwin H. Land, inventor, vision scientist, entrepreneur, and founder of Polaroid Corp. The prize is awarded annually and recognizes pioneers in scientific research whose work has enabled new inventions, technologies, and products.

The award is funded through the support of the Polaroid Foundation, the Polaroid Retirees Association, and individual contributors, including Manfred Heiting, Theodore Voss, and John J. McCann.