Michael Shur (born November 13, 1942) is a Russian and American physicist and a professor of solid state electronics and electrical engineering at

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

Background

Shur was born on November 13, 1942, in Kamensk-Uralsky, Sverdlovsk,

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. He received his master's degree in Electrical Engineering from St. Petersburg Electrotechnical Institute. In 1967 he received his Ph.D. in physics from the A.F. Ioffe Institute in Petersburg, Russia. In 1993, he received Dr. Sc. degree from A.F. Ioffe Institute. Shur has held research or faculty positions at the A.F. Ioffe Institute,

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

Oakland University Oakland University is a public research university in Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills, Michigan. Founded in 1957 through a donation of Matilda Dodge Wilson, it was initially known as Michigan State University-Oakland, operating under the Mi ...

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

IBM T.J. Watson Research Center The Thomas J. Watson Research Center is the headquarters for IBM Research. The center comprises three sites, with its main laboratory in Yorktown Heights, New York, U.S., 38 miles (61 km) north of New York City, Albany, New York and with ...

, and the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. From 1989 to 1996, he was the John Money Professor at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

, where he served as the director of the Applied Electrophysics Laboratories in 1996. He moved to

in 1996.

Research

Shur has led many research efforts in diverse fields related to semiconductor devices, solid-state physics, and engineering, such as plasma wave electronics, thin film transistors,

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...

technology, sub-micrometer field effect transistors,

terahertz technology Terahertz radiation – also known as submillimeter radiation, terahertz waves, tremendously high frequency (THF), T-rays, T-waves, T-light, T-lux or THz – consists of electromagnetic waves within the ITU-designated band of frequ ...

, Surface Acoustic, and Acousto-Optic devices. Having written over 1,000 technical publications, the Institute for Scientific Information, an organization that tracks citations, lists him as one of the most quoted researchers in his field. He has also authored, co-authored, or served as editor for 32 books. As of 2022, he holds over 375 patents for a wide variety of microelectronic innovations.

Awards and honors

* in 1994 Honorary Doctorate from St. Petersburg State Technical University * in 2007 the IEEE Donald G. Fink Prize Paper Award for the paper "Solid-State Lighting: Towards Superior Illumination" * in 2007 the

IEEE Leon K. Kirchmayer Graduate Teaching Award The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operati ...

for "inspirational guidance of graduate students & development of novel teaching materials in solid-state electronics" * in 2008 IEEE Sensors Council Technical Achievement Award * in 2009 elected Foreign Member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences * in 2018 IEEE Ebers Award * in 2015 Institute of Electronic Technology Medal * in 2016, Fellow, US National Academy of Inventors * in 2016 Honorary Doctorate University of Vilnius

References

1942 births 21st-century American physicists Living people Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute faculty Fellow Members of the IEEE American electrical engineers {{US-electrical-engineer-stub