CV

Here is my CV.

Contact Information

Name Benjamin Strekha
Professional Title Photonics Design Engineer
Location New York, NY

Professional Summary

A photonics design engineer specializing in theoretical and computational approaches to photonic systems.

Experience

  • 2024 - present

    New York, NY

    Photonics Design Engineer
    Quantum Transistors, Inc.
    • Designed new photonic devices and systems on chip operating at the quantum level [used Ansys FDTD, MODE (EME, FDE), HFSS, and Flexcompute Tidy3D].
    • Maintained an active library of components and internally developed photonic process design kits aimed at a photonic foundry (used GDSFactory, KLayout).
    • Developed and ran automated data collection routines for large-scale wafer-level testing of photonic devices.
    • Performed statistical analysis on collected data and built confidence models of measured physical parameters of optoelectronic devices.

Education

  • 2019 - 2024

    Princeton, NJ

    Ph.D.
    Princeton University
    Electrical and Computer Engineering
    • Derived novel expressions for torque due to fluctuating electric currents within objects.
    • Derived bounds on the performance limits of electromagnetic phenomena (e.g., limits on maximum torque, suppression of local density of states, optical cloaking, Shannon capacity).
  • 2017 - 2019

    Urbana-Champaign, IL

    Master of Science
    University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    Physics
  • 2013 - 2017

    Philadelphia, PA

    Bachelor of Arts
    University of Pennsylvania
    Physics

Teaching

  • 2020 - 2024

    Princeton, NJ

    Assistant in Instruction
    Princeton University
    • Preceptor for COS 126 - Computer Science: An Interdisciplinary Approach (Spring 2023, Spring 2024).
    • AI for ECE 453 - Optical and Quantum Electronics (Fall 2021).
    • AI for ORF 363 / COS 323 - Computing and Optimization for the Physical and Social Sciences (Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022).
    • AI for MAT 340 - Applied Algebra (Fall 2020, Fall 2023).
  • 2017 - 2019

    Urbana-Champaign, IL

    Teaching Assistant
    University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    • Discussion TA for Physics 211 - University Physics: Mechanics (Spring 2019).
    • Discussion TA for Physics 212 - University Physics: Elec & Mag (Fall 2018).
    • Discussion TA for Physics 214 - University Physics: Quantum Physics (Summer 2018).
    • Grader for Physics 569 - Emergent States of Matter (Spring 2018).
    • Lab TA for Physics 212 - University Physics: Elec & Mag (Fall 2017).
  • 2016 - 2017

    Philadelphia, PA

    Teaching Assistant
    University of Pennsylvania
    • Recitation TA for Physics 102 - General Physics: Electromagnetism, Optics, and Modern Physics (Spring 2017 - Professor Douglas Durian).
    • Grader for Physics 401 - Thermodynamics (Fall 2016 - Professor Douglas Durian).
    • Grader for Physics 151 - Introduction to Electricity and Magnetism (Spring 2016 - Professor Joshua R. Klein).

Interests

Physics, Electrical Engineering, Optimization Theory: computational photonics; numerical optimization; inverse design (topology optimization); performance limits; FDFD electromagnetic solver; fluctuational electrodynamics; photonic integrated circuits
Hobbies: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Swimming, Reading, Museums