ITALIAN SCIENTISTS & SCHOLARS IN NORTH AMERICA FOUNDATION
Connecting, Empowering, Celebrating the Italian Intellectual Diaspora
Franco Strazzabosco Award
2024
WINNER
Michele Cotrufo
University of Rochester
Dr. Michele Cotrufo is awarded the Franco Strazzabosco Award for his research on light-based analog image processing and computing. His research holds the promise for a more sustainable future in terms of energy-efficient data processing, with implications for a wide range of technologies, from self-driving cars to neuromorphic computing and efficient data centers.
Michele Cotrufo is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester, USA. He earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in physics from the University of Bari (2010) and the University of Padova (2012), both in Italy. Following his master’s studies, he pursued a Ph.D. at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, where he explored novel light-matter interactions in nanophotonics. After graduating in 2017, he conducted postdoctoral research at UT Austin and the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center in New York City, before joining the University of Rochester in 2023.
Dr. Cotrufo’s research centers on metamaterials—artificially engineered materials that exhibit optical properties unattainable in bulk substances. His work spans a wide range of applications, including analog computation, electromagnetic nonreciprocity, control of spontaneous and thermal emission, and the efficient generation of quantum light. He has authored or co-authored over 40 journal articles and two book chapters, and he holds three patents as a co-inventor.
His accolades include the Rubicon Fellowship from the Dutch Research Council, awarded in 2018 to support young scientists in gaining international experience, and the MDPI Photonics Young Investigator Award in 2023.