John Nees earns U-M Research Faculty Achievement Award

May 16, 2024

Nees has been a key contributor to the many ultrafast and high science advancements accomplished at the Gérard Mourou Center for Ultrafast Optical Sciences.

John Nees, research scientist at the Gérard Mourou Center for Ultrafast Optical Sciences in Electrical and Computer Engineering, has received a 2024 Research Faculty Achievement Award from the Office of the Vice President for Research.

“The University of Michigan is uniquely positioned to address some of society’s most pressing and urgent needs, and this is due in large part to the dedication and commitment of our talented research faculty,” said Arthur Lupia, interim vice president for research and innovation.

The ability to work with light and some of its many applications has been a central element of the joy I have had in doing research.

John Nees

Nees is an internationally renowned ultrafast optical science researcher. He joined the University of Michigan in 1988, and has been a key member of the Gérard Mourou Center for Ultrafast Optical Sciences since its founding in 1990 as a Science and Technology Center. Most recently, Nees has been a leader in the design, construction, and commissioning of the NSF Zettawatt-Equivalent Ultrafast pulse laser System (ZEUS) facility, soon to be the highest power laser in the USA.

Two researchers work on the ZEUS laser. — (From left) Research scientist John Nees and research engineer Galina Kalinchenko work on the ZEUS laser (2022). Photo by Marcin Szczepanski.

He has also served as director of the Relativistic Lambda Cubed laser laboratory, which has pioneered high rate experiments capable of utilizing the nonlinear optical effects driven by the relativistic behavior of electrons.

Nees has co-authored more than 300 publications that have been cited nearly 8,000 times, in areas such as ultrafast laser technology, laser-matter interactions, attosecond pulse generation, high-field science, targetry, and medical applications. He has 7 U.S. patents.

“The ability to work with light and some of its many applications has been a central element of the joy I have had in doing research,” said Nees.

In addition to his primary role as a researcher, Nees has taught EECS 334: Principles of Optics, EECS 438: Advanced Lasers and Optics Lab, and both co-developed and taught UARTS 250/UARTS 550: Creative Process. He has been a member of 23 PhD committees, and served as a mentor to countless undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers.

Nees has also received the Kenneth M. Reese Outstanding Research Scientist Award from the College of Engineering (in 2006 and 2020), and has served as President of the Ann Arbor Optical Society of America. He is a Fellow of Optica (formerly the Optical Society of America).