Mechanical Engineering
College of Science and Engineering
Twin Cities
Award Year
2023
University Award
McKnight Land-Grant Professorship
Research Title
Forces of Light: Optomechanics of Nanostructured Materials
No Monument Location
Ognjen Ilic studies the mechanics of how light interacts with materials to enable new technologies for contactless manipulation. He works at the intersection of optomechanics and wave physics to develop new nanostructured materials that can be actuated by light. Through their exotic optical and mechanical properties, these metamaterials are advancing existing applications of optical manipulation in science and engineering as well as enabling entirely new technologies ranging from fuel-free spacecraft to metamaterial robots and optomechanical sensors.