Inspired Biological Engineering: Detection and Production of Polarized Light by Animals

摘要

In the course of this project, we met all of our initially stated objectives. Our research involved ongoing collaborations with colleagues at UMBC, the Marine Biological Laboratory, the University of Queensland, the University of California, Arizona State University, and the University of Pennsylvania. We regularly exchanged visits with our major collaborator and subcontractor, Nader Engheta of the University of Pennsylvania, to discuss our results and the construction of synthetic polarizers inspired by biological designs. Since finding began we published (or have in press) 31 papers in major scientific journals, of which ten result directly from new research supported by AFOSR funding and six more are reviews that include work directly related to AFOSR-funded research in my laboratory. We co-organized (with Justin Marshall) an international meeting held in June, 2008 that was largely funded by AFOSR and its European and Asian offices, delivered numerous invited seminars, several posters, and numerous invited talks at national and international meetings relating to this award. The PI of this award was selected Presidential Research Professor at UMBC at the beginning of 2009, an honor that extends for a term of three years.