Faculty

Eileen Otte joined the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester as a faculty member in January 2025. After completing her M.Sc. degree with distinction, she specialized in structured singular light in her PhD studies. She performed her research at the University of Muenster (WWU), Germany, as well as the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Cornelia Denz and Prof. Dr. Andrew Forbes. In 2019 she finished her doctoral degree (Dr. rer. nat.), honored with "summa cum laude" and the WWU Dissertation Award in Physics, and published in the Springer Theses series. She has also received the Research Award 2020 of the Industrial Club Duesseldorf, was appointed a junior class member of the NRW Academy of Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts, and was listed among the Emerging Leaders 2021 and Emerging Talents 2021 of IOP’s Journal of Optics. In 2021, Eileen moved to Stanford University, where she performed research on nanoscale light-matter interaction in the group of Prof. Mark L. Brongersma at the Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials (GLAM) and in collaboration with the Center for Soft Nanoscience, University of Muenster, Germany. Her postdoctoral research was supported by the GLAM fellowship (Stanford) as well as the DAAD PRIME program.

Courses Taught

• OPT 477:  Structured Light and Singular Optics

Awards

• 2024—GRC Poster Award at the GRC on Plasmonics & Nanophotonics (incl. upgrade to talk)
• 2021–2023—GLAM Fellowship, Stanford University, CA, USA
• 2021–2022—PRIME Fellowship, DAAD, Germany (open: funding for 6 months at WWU in 2024)
• 11/2021—Part of Emerging Leaders 2021 collection, Journal of Optics
• 05/2021—Part of Tutorials by Emerging Talents 2021 collection, Journal of Optics
• 01/2021—Appointment to the “Junges Kolleg” (Young Academy) of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts
• 01/2021—Publication of PhD Thesis in the “Springer Theses” program recognizing outstanding PhD research [E. Otte, Structured Singular Light fields, Cham: Springer Nature (2021)]
• 11/2020—Finalist SAMOP Dissertation Prize 2020 (German Physical Society, DPG)
• 10/2020—“Wissenschaftspreis 2020” (Research Award 2020) of the Industrie-Club e.V. Düsseldorf and the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts
• 12/2019—WWU Dissertation Award for the best PhD thesis in physics by the University of Muenster
• 04/2019—Completed PhD studies with summa cum laude
• 09/2019—Journal of Optics’ “Paper of the week” [E. Otte et al. J. Opt. 20 (2018), 105606]
• 11/2017—“Special prize” for the talk on the 10th ALC Student Workshop, Stellenbosch, South Africa
• 10-12/2016—IP@WWU – International PhD Study at WWU, research stipend for an internship at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
• 06/2016—Participant of the 66th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting; fellowship of the Else & Wilhelm Heraeus foundation, Lindau, Germany
• 03/2015—Completed Master of Science with distinction
• 10/2012—Award for the best poster at the 16. Deutsche Physikerinnentagung, Freiburg, Germany
• 06/2009—Award for excellent performance in Physics by the German Physical Society (DPG)