Frank J. Roshek Professor of Physics, Applied Physics, & Bioengineering
California Institute of Technology
Michael Roukes is the Frank J. Roshek Professor of Physics, Applied Physics, and Bioengineering at the California Institute of Technology. His scientific interests range from quantum measurement to applied biotechnology — with a unifying theme of the development, very-large-scale integration, and application of complex nanosystems to precision measurements in fundamental physics, the life sciences, and medicine. Roukes was the founding Director of Caltech’s Kavli Nanoscience Institute (KNI) from 2003-2006. In 2007, he co-founded the Alliance for Nanosystems VLSI (very-large-scale integration) with scientists and engineers at CEA/LETI in Grenoble, a $B-scale research foundry. He then continued as co-director of Caltech’s KNI from 2008 until 2013. Since then he has returned to full-time pursuit of research efforts with his group and collaborators worldwide. To date, Roukes has been awarded 49 patents in his areas of research and has started two companies. Concurrent with his Caltech appointment, he has held a Chaire d’Excellence in nanoscience in Grenoble, France since 2008. Among his honors, Roukes is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, a recipient of the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, and has been awarded Chevalier (Knight) dans l’Ordre des Palmes Academiques by the Republic of France.