Antonella Bogoni
CNIT, ItalyFor significant contributions to high-speed optical signal processing, including for microwave photonics and photonics-based radar.
Antonella Bogoni was drawn to a career in research so she could discover new things. She wanted to help people by finding new solutions, capabilities, and services through her research, utilizing creativity to innovate. At first, she was intimidated by the seeming difficulty of pursuing a career in science, but she followed her interests and established a wonderfully fulfilling career. She came into optics and photonics after a fascinating experimental optical communications course. In it, she had access to state-of-the-art lab equipment with optical components and fibers. She was intrigued by the incredible capacity of the tiny cable to transmit data over a great distance and has worked in the field ever since.
Throughout her work, Antonella has had the support of a mentor, Professor Giancarlo Prati. Since her undergraduate studies at Parma University, Italy, he has provided helpful advice, exciting opportunities, and many life lessons. One particularly fundamental experience for Antonella came about because of Professor Prati in 2001. By that time, Prati had moved to CNIT as its director, and he hired Antonella as a researcher. In 2001, they worked together to establish a new photonics laboratory at the Sant'Anna School in Pisa, which was a great challenge for the young researcher. She comments, "The complex set up needed to carry out experiments had to be designed and built, expensive equipment had to be purchased and learned; we had to study the state of the art of photonics, the open problems and identify areas of research in which to "invent" new things; and above all we had to create credibility externally with the work done and the results obtained. I was in the right place at the right time. I liked what I was doing, and I am delighted with the results."
In addition to her rewarding work with Professor Prati, her experience in Professor Alan Willner’s group at University of South California, USA, boosted her career exponentially. In her visiting period, she learned new and effective research methodologies and was fascinated and influenced by the extraordinary leadership attitude of Prof. Willner.
Since then, Antonella has made a shift in her research area from optical communications to microwave photonics in 2009. She shares that she's most excited and challenged by the integration of photonics with radio competencies. The team must work together to try to find a common language across two different fields, as well as create the right team with the right skills, which can be challenging at times. However, the possibility of one of her chips on a space mission keeps her pushing to find innovations and applications. She comments, "As a whole, photonics is becoming no more a specific technology for optical communications, but a transversal technology pervasive in our lives. The applications of photonics are exploding, as well as its potential."
Antonella hopes that her scientific contributions will meaningfully impact people’s lives. Her work aims to enhance bandwidth, enabling better 6G services “through higher resolution in sensor imaging for earth monitoring, through advanced photonic solutions for health, and more.” She encourages her students and other young scientists to be resolute, passionate, hard-working…and humble. Antonella has learned through her many experiences that “important achievements require big efforts,” and she appreciates the importance of a strong team. In her early years, she recalls putting in 12-hour days sometimes in order to make progress on a particularly difficult problem, but all of her hard work has paid off.
Photo Credit: Antonella Bogoni
Profile written by Samantha Hornback
