Mona Jarrahi

Mona Jarrahi (Persian: مونا جراحی; Jan 1979) is an Iranian Engineering professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. She investigates novel materials, terahertz/millimeter-wave electronics and optoelectronics, microwave photonics, imaging and spectroscopy systems.

Jarrahi was honored with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2013 for her work on Terahertz Optoelectronics.

Early life and career

Jarrahi was born in Tehran and received her high school education in Iran. In 1995 she got a silver medal at the Iranian National Physics Olympiad. She got her B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology in 2000. She then joined Stanford University After earning her Ph.D., Jarrahi joined University of Michigan Ann Arbor as an assistant professor (2008–2013). Afterward, she joined UCLA as an associate professor (2013–2017) and from 2017 she became a professor at UCLA in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.

Prof. Jarrahi has made contributions to the development of ultrafast electronic/optoelectronic devices and integrated systems for terahertz/millimeter-wave sensing, imaging, computing, and communication systems by utilizing novel materials, nanostructures, and quantum well structures as well as innovative plasmonic and optical concepts.

Awards and recognition

On 23 December 2013, Jarrahi was honored with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) award from the President of the United States, Barack Obama. She was one of 102 scientists and engineers to receive this award in 2013. The presidential award committee cited her work in Terahertz Optoelectronics.

Among the many awards and recognition Prof. Jarrahi received are in this table 2014 Booker Fellowship from the United States National Committee of the International Union of Radio Science (USNC/URSI) 2014 IEEE Nanotechnology Council Early Career Award in Nanotechnolog 2014 IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society Outstanding Young Engineer Award 2015 Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award 2015 Lot Shafai Mid-Career Distinguished Achievement Award from IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S) 2015 Best Student Paper Award, 3rd place, International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves 2016 Sharif University of Technology Distinguished Alumni Award 2016 Moore Inventor Fellowship 2016 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award 2017 Fellow of the Optical Society of America (OSA) 2017 Okawa Foundation Research Award 2017 Watanabe Excellence in Research Award from UCLA School of Engineering and Applied Science 2018 Fellow of the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE) 2019 Fellow of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 2019 Burroughs Wellcome Fund's Innovations in Regulatory Science Award 2020 Fellow of the Institute of Physics (IoP) 2020 Catalyzing Pediatric Innovation Award 2021 UCLA Faculty Innovation Fellow 2021 IET A F Harvey Engineering Research Prize 2022 SPIE Harold E. Edgerton Award in High-Speed Optics 2022 Fellow of the American Physical Society