Terry L. Smith, TWG & PEG Leaders

Dr. Terry L. Smith is a Senior Staff Scientist for the 3M Company Central Research Laboratory (St. Paul, Minnesota). He formulated the original goals and framework for the AIM Photonics Academy Project.
 
Dr. Smith joined 3M in 1979 and since that time has been involved in many research and development programs related to optical interconnect, fiber optic components and integrated optics.  He led 3M’s entry into semiconductor laser diode research with a successful DARPA proposal to develop blue laser diodes based on II-VI semiconductor alloys. This program ultimately led to the demonstration of the world’s first blue-green laser diode.  
 
Dr. Smith also led 3M’s entry into parallel optical link technology via a successful proposal for a NIST-funded 3M-IBM-Lexmark joint program entitled "Jitney: A Low-Cost, High-Performance Optical Bus."  Other programs led by Dr. Smith include micro-resonator sensors for high-sensitivity bio-detection, polarization-independent lithium niobate electro-optic waveguide switches, tunable add/drop multiplexers, and fiber-Bragg-grating-based chromatic and polarization-mode dispersion compensators.
 
In addition to his other activities, Dr. Smith has led research collaborations with academic institutions including MIT (Prof. Hermann Haus), Texas A&M (Prof. Henry Taylor), and the University of Minnesota (Prof. Anand Gopinath).  He has also contributed to communications technology roadmaps generated by the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association (OIDA).
 
Dr. Smith received his B.A. degree from Cornell University, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana). He holds approximately 75 U.S. patents in various optoelectronics-related areas.
 
Chair, Electronic-Photonic Interconnect TWG
3M Company