Shubham Mondal awarded an SPIE Optics and Photonics Scholarship

BELLINGHAM, Washington, USA — Shubham Mondal has been awarded a 2025 Optics and Photonics
Scholarship by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, for potential contributions to
optics, photonics, or a related field.

Mondal is a PhD candidate in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Michigan, working on next-generation III-Nitride semiconductor devices and supervised by Professor Zetian Mi. Mondal’s research explores the unique polarization properties of III-Nitrides and their tunability for power electronics, optoelectronics, and integrated photonics. Some of his key research contributions in optoelectronics include demonstrating the first high performance, self-powered, and reconfigurable deep-UV photodetector based on ferroelectric ScAlN, as well as pioneering the epitaxial growth and doping of Npolar ultrawide-bandgap semiconductors on SiC substrates to enable efficient and cost-effective lighting technologies. “Controllable and switchable polarization in III-Nitrides,” Mondal explains, “enables transformative possibilities for UV-optoelectronics and data-centric computing.”

Read more about Shubham Mondal’s PhD research

Mondal also received the 2025 Richard and Eleanor Towner Prize for Outstanding Ph.D. Research.

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This month, the Society is awarding $323,000 in scholarships to 74 outstanding SPIE Student Members, based on their potential contribution to optics and photonics, or a related discipline. Successful applicants were evaluated, selected, and approved by the SPIE Scholarship Committee, chaired by SPIE Senior Member Brian Primeau.

Since this program began in 1978, SPIE has distributed more than $7.5 million dollars in individual scholarships. This ambitious effort reflects the Society’s commitment to education as well as to the future generations of optical scientists and engineers around the world.

To view other 2025 scholarship press releases as they become available, please visit the 2025 Scholarship Recipients page or learn more about SPIE scholarships on spie.org. SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, brings engineers, scientists, students, and business professionals together to advance light-based science and technology. The Society, founded in 1955, connects and engages with our global constituency through industry-leading conferences and exhibitions; publications of conference proceedings, books, and journals in the SPIE Digital Library; and career-building opportunities. Over the past five years, we have invested more than $25 million in the international optics community through our advocacy and support, including scholarships, educational resources, travel grants, endowed gifts, and public-policy development. www.spie.org.