Irena Knezevic

Prof. Irena Knezevic is a Professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with an additional affiliation in Materials Science & Engineering. Her research focuses on theoretical and computational modeling of nanoscale systems, including quantum transport in semiconductor nanostructures, nanoscale thermal transport, and multiphysics simulations. She leads a collaborative team working on topics such as nanophotonics, thermoelectrics, and exciton transport in organic solar cells, supported by funding from DOE, NSF, and AFOSR.

Education: PhD 2004 in Physics from Arizona State University. She has taught courses including Electrodynamics I, Transport in Semiconductor Devices, and graduate research supervision across ECE and Physics departments.

Research interests emphasize: quantum/semiclassical electronic transport, heat transport at nanoscale, decoherence in nanostructures, multiphysics simulation (electronic/thermal/electromagnetic coupling), nanophotonics/plasmonics, and exciton dynamics in organic photovoltaics. Her work bridges theoretical physics, computational methods, and experimental collaborations.

Notable awards include the NSF CAREER Award (2006), AFOSR YIP (2009), Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professorship (2022), and multiple teaching awards including Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award (2020). She has also held the Patricia and Michael Splinter Professorship in ECE (2017).

Her group’s research spans semiconductor nanostructures, graphene-based materials, quantum cascade lasers, and thermoelectric materials. Current projects involve terahertz electronics, plasmonic effects, and high-performance nanodevice simulation tools like DECaNT for exciton diffusion modeling.