Baylor Physics Professor Receives DARPA Award for Young Faculty

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WACO, Texas (Dec. 8, 2017) — Howard Lee, Ph.D., assistant professor of physics in Baylor University’s College of Arts & Sciences, was recently named a 2017 recipient of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award.

The YFA program is designed to identify outstanding early-career researchers in junior faculty positions at U.S. academic institutions and support their research in defined topic areas related to DARPA's defense-focused mission.

“Dr. Lee is a wonderful faculty member,” said Truell Hyde, Ph.D., vice provost for research at Baylor. “The competition for these awards is fierce, and this is just one more indication of the quality of his research. We are proud to have him at Baylor.”

Lee was one of only 17 researchers selected for the YFA class of 2017 and one of two recipients working in the topic area, "Designing Structured Materials for Improved Parametric Processes." His research focuses on developing new techniques to control the interaction between light and matter at the nanometer length scales.

“This YFA grant from DARPA definitely enhances my insight, confidence and connections for future competitive external grant applications as a junior faculty,” Lee said. “Similar to the nature of research projects from DARPA on ‘high risk, high impact,’ I hope to keep pursuing interesting research topics and making good impact to the field of photonics and nano-optics.”

Lee said he wants to encourage young faculty and students who have a desire to obtain a faculty position to use their passion as a driving force to pursue their dreams.

“I want to encourage Baylor students that we have good resources at Baylor and we are not far behind the big schools. With our dedication and passion, we could definitely compete with the top schools,” Lee said.

by Joy Moton, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805

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