Elsa Garmire

1993 President and Honorary Member Elsa M. Garmire served as the Sydney E. Junkins Professor of Engineering at Dartmouth College, USA, until her retirement in 2016.  She received an AB at Harvard University, USA, and PhD at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, both in physics. As a graduate student working with Charles Townes at MIT, Garmire demonstrated important nonlinear effects produced by powerful laser beams acting on atoms and molecules. During her career, Garmire’s research has focused on a range of topics from nonlinear optics to quantum electronics. She has patented devices to enhance optical communications including lasers, waveguides, and detectors.

Garmire spent her early career at California Institute of Technology as a senior research fellow. Following a couple of years in industry Garmire joined the University of Southern California where she became William Hogue Professor of Electrical Engineering, Professor of Physics, and Director of the Center for Laser Studies. In 1995 after 20 years at the University of Southern California, Garmire moved Dartmouth College where she served two years as dean of the Thayer School of Engineering. She retired in 2016.

Author of over 250 journal papers and holder of nine patents, Garmire has supervised more than 30 PhD and 15+ MS theses. She has actively given back to the optics community through service to numerous committees and organizations. She has served on the boards of five technical journals; has organized a number of conferences and held leadership positions in the National Academy of Engineering, IEEE LEOS, APS, and Optica; and served as a representative to the International Commission for Optics.

Garmire has also advised government policy makers through service on advisory boards and panels for the Department of Energy, the US Air Force, the National Science Foundation, and the National Academies’ Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy. She has also worked to raise awareness of the need for technical literacy among decision makers. She received Society of Women Engineers' Achievement Award, has been a Fulbright Scholar, and is an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Garmire served on the OSA Board from 1983-1985 and was elected Vice President in 1991. She served as the 1993 President of the Society and has been active on many committees since. In 2019, she was named as an Honorary Member of the Society. Garmire is currently a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee.