Prof Prem Kumar

Prof Prem Kumar

School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University, USA

Prem Kumar is Professor of Information Technology in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University, with primary appointment in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and a courtesy appointment in the Physics and Astronomy Department. This dual appointment allows him to recruit students from both disciplines into his group, a privilege that has proven extremely beneficial for his research interests that lie at the interface of basic quantum science and applied information technology. Because of this interdisciplinary exposure, Ph.D. graduates from his research group (35 completed, 5 in progress) have gone on to build careers in academia, industry, and national labs throughout the world. His current research focus is on quantum communications and networking for interconnecting future quantum computing and sensing systems. His group has cumulatively published >500 research papers (Google Scholar h-index: 61). Dr. Kumar has served as a Program Manager at DARPA, where he managed a portfolio of programs in basic and applied sciences. He received Program Manager of the Year award in 2015 and Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service in 2016. He co-authored the National Academies report: “Optics and Photonics: Essential Technologies for Our Nation,” which spawned the National Photonics Initiative (NPI). Currently, he serves on the NPI Steering Committee, lending his expertise to issues pertaining to the National Quantum Initiative. Dr. Kumar is a Fellow of all the relevant professional societies: OSA, APS, IEEE, IoP (U.K.), AAAS, and SPIE. Currently, he serves as Editor-in-Chief of Optica, the flagship high-impact journal of The Optical Society (OSA). He has been a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Photonics Society, Hermann A. Haus Lecturer at MIT, recipient of the Quantum Communication Award from Tamagawa University in Tokyo, Japan, and the Walder Research Excellence Award from the Provost’s office at Northwestern University.