Michal Lipson Awarded Honorary Doctorate from Tel Aviv University

Michal Lipson, Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering and professor of applied physics at Columbia Engineering, has received an honorary doctorate from Tel Aviv University in recognition of her pioneering contributions to silicon photonics.

Lipson was honored at Tel Aviv University’s annual Honorary Degrees Ceremony on October 29, alongside leaders in science, culture, education, and philanthropy. The university recognized Lipson for work that has transformed optics and communications technology and helped lay the foundation for faster and more energy-efficient computing.

“I feel deeply honored to receive this recognition from Tel Aviv University, in the country where I grew up and began my journey as a scientist," says Lipson.

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A pioneer in silicon photonics, Lipson has helped establish approaches for manipulating light on silicon chips, enabling optical components to be integrated using technologies compatible with the semiconductor industry. Her research has contributed to the development of photonic systems with applications ranging from data communications and computing to sensing and quantum technologies.

Lipson is the inventor of more than 45 issued patents and has co-authored more than 400 scientific publications. She has been named a top 1% highly cited researcher in physics by Clarivate, formerly Thomson Reuters, every year since 2014.

Her many honors include membership in the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has received the National Academy of Sciences’ Comstock Prize in Physics, a MacArthur Fellowship, the Blavatnik National Award, Optica’s R. W. Wood Prize, the John Tyndall Award, and the IEEE Photonics Award.

Lipson is also a former president of Optica and previously received an honorary doctorate from Trinity College Dublin.

Tel Aviv University’s annual honorary degrees ceremony recognizes individuals from Israel and around the world for exceptional contributions to science, society, culture, education, and public life. This year’s honorees also included Harvard materials scientist Joanna Aizenberg, philanthropists Jon and Mindy Gray, French singer-songwriter Enrico Macias, Israeli poet and lyricist Rachel Shapira, educator and philanthropist Nina Avidar Weiner, and activist Einav Zangauker.