Bhavin Shastri

Bhavin Shastri is Canada Research Chair in Neuromorphic Photonic Computing and Assistant Professor of Engineering Physics at Queen's University. He directs research developing light-based computing systems that mimic neural processing for AI applications.

His lab designs photonic integrated circuits that implement neural network architectures on chip-scale platforms. Research focuses on overcoming limitations of conventional computing through nanophotonic physics and novel materials.

Publications demonstrate advances in photonic tensor cores, quantum photonic neural networks, and microwave photonic processors. Recent work achieves orders-of-magnitude improvements in processing speed and energy efficiency over electronic systems.

Awards include:

• Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship (2025)
• Royal Society of Canada College Member (2024)
• Science News SN10 Scientist to Watch (2024)
• SPIE Early Career Award (2022)

As Scientific Co-Director of NSERC's NUCLEUS program, he leads national efforts in photonic computing. Guides 12+ graduate students researching silicon photonics, neuromorphic architectures, and quantum photonics.