Mark Lawrence

Mark Lawrence is an Assistant Professor in the Electrical & Systems Engineering department at Washington University in St. Louis. He leads a research lab focused on nanoscale engineering for light-based technologies. His work spans applications in all-optical computing, quantum communication, metrology, and biosensing, leveraging metamaterials, metasurfaces, and advanced semiconductor platforms.

Education:

• PhD in Physics, University of Birmingham (UK)
• MS in Theoretical Physics, University of Birmingham

Research Interests: Professor Lawrence designs novel photonic systems using subwavelength structures like plasmonics and silicon photonics. His lab employs 2D materials, III-V semiconductors, and advanced characterization techniques such as pump-probe microscopy and nonlinear spectroscopy to control free-space optical signals.

Grants & Collaborations: Recent achievements include a Collaboration Initiation Grant (2024) and NSF funding ($3.8M with Sang-Hoon Bae for semiconductor research, 2023).

Labs/Teams: Active in the McKelvey School’s photonics and nanotechnology research groups, with prior postdoctoral work at Stanford University under Jennifer Dionne.