Biography

Linda Olafsen earned an A.B. in Physics at Princeton University. She then went to graduate school in Physics at Duke University and received her Master’s degree in 1994 and her Ph.D. in 1997. Dr. Olafsen accepted a National Research Council postdoctoral research associateship at Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. for two years before taking a faculty position at the University of Kansas in 1999, first as an Assistant Professor, receiving an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award in 2001, and being promoted to Associate Professor in 2005. She joined the faculty at Baylor University as an Associate Professor of Physics in 2006, and then as an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2015. She was recognized in 2018 with an Outstanding Faculty Award for Teaching at Baylor University.She is a member of the IEEE (senior member), SPIE, the American Physical Society (lifetime member), the Directed Energy Professional Society, and the Materials Research Society. She is on the editorial board of the MRS Bulletin, chairs the MRS Bulletin book review board, and has served as a member and chair of the Congressional Visits Day subcommittee, organizing visits to Washington, DC to speak with members of Congress about the impact of federal funding of research.Her research is focused on the development of efficient mid-infrared semiconductor lasers at or above room temperature, as well as the application of materials and infrared sensing to biomedical devices and systems.