Michael Escuti

Adjunct Professor

919-513-7363
mjescuti@ncsu.edu
421 Monteith Research Center (MRC)
Campus Box 7911

Biography

Mike Escuti joined NCSU in 2004.

In the classroom, he teaches and develops undergraduate and graduate courses in a wide range of topics, including optics, photonics, electromagnetics, circuits, nanotechnology, thin-film-transistors, and organic electronics, often with hands-on labs and independent projects.

In the laboratory, he leads empirical, computational, and theoretical research into liquid crystal films/devices, retarders, polarization, holography, display systems, and geometric-phase fundamentals. The work of his group of students, post-docs, and industrial partners helped spark the disruptive technology of 3D patterned liquid crystal polymer network films and their use in displays and optical sensors, sometimes called LCP optics. These thin, flat lenses and low-loss high-performance optical elements are paving the way for compact and affordable AR/VR headsets of the future, smarter Lidar depth sensors, and the high contrast study of exo-planets. His academic research supported by more than $9M of external funding, including from the National Science Foundation (NSF), US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), and many industrial partners.

In 2004, he co-founded the startup company ImagineOptix, dedicated to inspire transformational optical systems enabling lifelike experiences.

As of 2021, Mike graduated 10 PhD students, and mentored 22 undergraduate researchers and 3 post-docs. He published 66 peer-reviewed journal publications and 86 conference proceedings, delivered 36 invited research talks, co-authored 2 invited magazine articles and 1 book chapter, and is named inventor on 19(25) US patents(applications). He has been recognized by the 2016 NCSU Innovator of the Year Award, the 2011 NCSU Alcoa Foundation Engineering Research Achievement Award, the 2010 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (National Science Foundation), the 2004 Glenn H. Brown Award from the International Liquid Crystal Society (ILCS), and the 2002 OSA/NewFocus Student Award from the Optical Society of America (OSA).

Mike earned his Ph.D. (2002) and M.Sc. (1999) degrees from Brown University under the guidance of Professor Greg Crawford, and his B.Sc. (1997) degree from Drexel University, all in Electrical Engineering. He worked as postdoctoral (2002-2004) fellow at Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands) under the guidance of Professor Dick Broer, in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.

Education

Ph.D. 2002
Electrical Engineering
Brown University, Providence
Master's 1999
Electrical Engineering
Brown University, Providence
Bachelor's 1997
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Drexel University, Philadelphia

Research Focus

Physical Electronics, Photonics & Magnetics
Optical Materials and Photonic Devices

Funded Research

Highlighted Awards

NSF CAREER Award (2010)
Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (2011)
Alcoa Foundation Engineering Research Achievement Award (2011)
NC State Innovator of the Year (2016)

Awards & Honors

2019 - Senior Member of National Academy of Inventors
2016 - NCSU Innovator of the Year
2011 - Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)
2011 - ALCOA Foundation Distinguished Engineering Research Award (NC State)
2010 - National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award
2004 - International Liquid Crystal Society (ILCS) Glenn H Brown Award for Outstanding PhD Dissertation
2002 - Optical Society of America (OSA) New Focus Student Award, Top Winner
2001 - Materials Research Society (MRS) Graduate Student Silver Award
2001 - Sigma Xi Outstanding Graduate Student Research Award, Brown University
2000 - Rhode Island House of Representatives Citation of Excellence in Science Education
1997 - Drexel University Citation of Excellence in Engineering Design