Jonas Zmuidzinas

Jonas Zmuidzinas is the Merle Kingsley Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology, affiliated with the Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy. He holds joint roles as a Senior Research Scientist (2005-11) and former Chief Technologist (2011-16) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). His research focuses on submillimeter astronomy, instrumentation, and superconducting detector technologies. Key projects include the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) and the CCAT (Cornell-Caltech Atacama Telescope) initiative in Chile.

Education: B.S. from Caltech (1981), Ph.D. from UC Berkeley (1987). He has held academic positions at Caltech since 1989, progressing from Assistant to Full Professor. Awards include the NSF Presidential Young Investigator (1990-95) and ASCIT Teaching Award (1995).

• Research areas: Submillimeter astronomy, superconducting detectors (e.g., MKIDs), instrumentation development, galaxy evolution, and star formation.
• Leadership roles: Directed the Micro-Devices Laboratory at JPL (2007-11) and Caltech Optical Observatories (2018-23).
• Service: Active in NASA committees, SOFIA Science Steering Committee, and SPIE conference organization.

His work bridges physics, engineering, and astronomy, emphasizing innovative technologies like MKIDs for sensitive astronomical surveys. Current efforts include developing detectors and instruments for next-generation telescopes.