About
Eric R. Fossum is the John H. Krehbiel Sr. Professor for Emerging Technologies at Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering, serving as Vice Provost for Entrepreneurship & Technology Transfer and Director of the PhD Innovation Program. He invented the CMOS active pixel sensor, revolutionizing digital imaging used in smartphones, webcams, and medical devices. His research focuses on next-generation photon-counting and gigapixel sensors.
Education: BS in Physics/Engineering (Trinity College, 1979), MS and PhD in Engineering (Yale, 1980/1984).
Research: Solid-state image sensors, Quanta Image Sensors (QIS), low-light imaging, and entrepreneurial technology transfer. Notable contributions include the CMOS 'camera-on-a-chip' and co-founding Photobit and Gigajot Technology.
Key Awards: National Medal of Technology & Innovation (2025), Queen Elizabeth Prize (2017), Emmy Engineering Award (2021), NAE Member, NAI Fellow.
Entrepreneurship: Advised startups, led industry partnerships, and pioneered sensor commercialization. Active in tech transfer, patent filings (185+ granted), and academic-industry collaboration.
Labs/Teams: Directs the PhD Innovation Program and collaborates on advanced sensor development, including the Quanta Image Sensor project and NASA-related imaging technologies.
