Yasin Raja
Dr. Raja holds a B.Sc. (Physics & Math) degree from the Punjab University Lahore, M. Phil (M.S.) in Laser Physics from the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, and a Ph.D. in Optical Physics from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. He has been a professor at UNC Charlotte for 14 years and this year celebrated his promotion to Full Professor. Dr. Raja loves teaching and working with the energy of new undergraduate and graduate students. In his research, he has made several types of lasers from visible to infrared and from large size (several meters) to tiny ones (smaller than the thickness of hair!). He is also the Project Director for a task to develop the technology for non-volatile memory chips for computers and intelligent devices. Three years ago, he received a 1.7 million dollar grant from the Air Force Research Lab (Wright-Patterson Air Force Base) to fund this research! In his team, three other universities and a small company were also included. Just recently, he received another grant from NSF to organize an international workshop on High Capacity Optical Networks and Enabling Technologies in Islamabad, Pakistan. He will bring speakers from all over the world to discuss issues related to technology from physical layer to networking protocols. Societal and economic impact will also be discussed. He plans to emphasize the importance of diverse ideas by inviting speakers from other universities and industry to represent both national and gender diversity.
How did Dr. Raja become so interested in Physics According to the professor? He grew up in a small village near Islamabad in Pakistan and always admired nature by observing stars, phases of moon, twilight colors at dawn and dusk, changes in weather, rainbows, the behavior of animals and insects (particularly butterflies), and most importantly light related phenomena including lightening. It was the light that completely fascinated him and from those initial seeds of curiosity, he eventually developed five patents! His most significant patent deals with his invention of VCSELs (tiny lasers) that have applications from CD players and printers to high-speed optical telecommunication that is the backbone of the modern Internet. Other patents that he has deal with Fiberoptic equipment for medical applications and semiconductor lasers for the transmission of data from high speed computers. Dr. Raja's interest in Optical Science and Engineering is so strong that he has developed several new courses for physics and engineering students at UNC Charlotte, including two courses in Optical Communication.
In his spare time, Dr. Raja enjoys research, reading, and discussing ideas with students. He even gives his cell phone number to students to encourage communication with them. Physics is second nature to Dr. Raja. He strongly feels that for its applications and relevance in our everyday lives everyone should learn to appreciate the basic concepts of physics. Dr. Raja eats, sleeps and breathes physics and optics. If you had a physics professor like Dr. Raja, maybe you'd love it too!