Ursula Gibson

Ursula J. Gibson is an American materials scientist who specialises in novel core optical fibres.

Early life and education Gibson was born in Sheffield, England, and moved to the US in the 1960s, living in the Philadelphia area, then Ithaca, New York. She received in A.B. in physics from Dartmouth College. She received her M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Cornell University under the supervision of Robert Buhrman in 1978 and 1982, respectively. Her graduate research was in the area of thin film composites.

Research and career After her PhD, Gibson joined the faculty of the University of Arizona, working at the Optical Sciences Center, and was promoted to associate professor. In 1990, Gibson returned to Dartmouth College, joining the faculty of the Thayer School of Engineering She was elected to the board of directors of Optica in 2002, and served as the 2019 president of that organization.

Gibson joined the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in 2010. She was elected to the International Commission on Optics Bureau in 2011., and served as the 2019 president of Optica. She retired from NTNU and KTH Royal Institute of Technology in 2021. In addition to an NTNU emerita appointment, she is currently an adjunct professor at Clemson University and emerita at Dartmouth College

Gibson's research on optical materials has been wide-ranging, including polymers, protein crystals and semiconductors, with an emphasis on limited dimension structures such as thin films and waveguides She holds four patents and has authored 7 book contributions. Gibson's present research is focused on semiconductor-core optical fibers.

Gibson works on optical materials and nanostructures, with a focus on photovoltaic cells. In particular, she is developing optical fibres with cores made from group IV and III-V semiconductors. The semiconductor core materials have nonlinear optical and electro-optic properties, and can be produced in bulk quantities. Together with physicist Zahra Ghadyani, Gibson founded the company NorFib to commercialize a fiber-based system for generating electricity with solar energy.

In 2017, she was elected to Academia Net by the Swedish Research Council. 2004 NASA Network of Educator Astronaut Teachers 2008 Fulbright Fellow at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (formerly the Optical Society) 2019 President of Optica

Personal life Gibson is married to Ulf Österberg who retired in 2024 from the Thayer School of Engineering; they have three children.