Arjun G. Yodh is the James M. Skinner Professor of Science and Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania. He was recently Director (2009-2020) of Penn's Materials Science and Engineering Center (NSF-MRSEC). Areas of Yodh's ongoing research include: the physics of soft materials such as colloids and liquid crystals, and biophotonics, especially functional imaging and monitoring of living tissues with diffuse light. Most of his experiments involve optics in one way or another, including diffuse optics and spectroscopy, optical microscopy and micromanipulation, nonlinear optics, and light scattering. He was awarded the 2021 Feld Biophotonics Prize of the Optical Society of America (now Optica) and the 2024 Penn Provost Award for Distinguished PhD Teaching and Mentoring. In addition to mentoring more than one hundred PhD students and post-doctoral associates, Yodh has made significant contributions to education and outreach at the University of Pennsylvania, for example leading partnerships with the University of Puerto Rico and research experience programs for undergraduates and high school students/teachers. Yodh graduated from Cornell University (1981) with a B.Sc. in Applied & Engineering Physics. He obtained his Ph.D. from Harvard (1986) under the guidance of Tom Mossberg and then spent two years at AT&T Bell Laboratories as a postdoc working with Steven Chu and Harry Tom. Yodh joined the faculty at Penn in 1988, where he has remained for his entire career.
