Emir Salih Magden

Emir Salih Magden is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering at Koç University, where he founded the Photonic Architecture Laboratories. He holds degrees from Tufts University (B.S., 2012) and MIT (S.M. and Ph.D., 2014 and 2018), and his academic journey includes research at MIT's Photonic Microsystems Group and Integrated Photonic Materials and Devices Group, as well as Tufts University's Renewable Energy and Applied Photonics Lab.

• Education:
  • B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Tufts University (2012), summa cum laude and with highest thesis honors
  • S.M. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT (2014)
  • Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT (2018)

His research focuses on photonic learning machines, adaptive integrated photonics, CMOS-compatible amplifiers and lasers, and ultra-broadband on-chip optical networks for communications, sensing, and optical data handling. He has contributed to over 75 journal and conference papers, including a Nature Communications article on integrated filters highlighted in MIT’s homepage as a cover story in August 2018.

Scientific Awards & Memberships:

• Recipient of TUBITAK Career Development Grant
• Science Academy’s Young Scientist Award (BAGEP 2018)
• Three-time SPIE Scholarship in Optics and Photonics
• Amos Eberson Dolbear Scholarship
• Member of Optica (formerly OSA), Tau Beta Pi, and Eta Kappa Nu

As a mentor, he oversees graduate and undergraduate students, including Ph.D. and M.S. candidates in Electrical & Electronics Engineering. His lab emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration, leveraging photonics for AI and quantum technologies.