SmallTech Team Profile

Shalini Venkatesh , Ph.D.

Dr. Shalini Venkatesh is an applied physicist (B.Sc. in Physics, Ph.D. in Medical Physics, both from the University of Aston, in England) with extensive experience in optics and photonics.

Dr. Venkatesh began her career in medical physics, working on brain scanning, mass spectrometry, neutron activation analysis, and lasers in ophthalmology. She entered the field of fiber optics first as a postdoctoral research fellow at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland, and then as the Schlumberger Lecturer in Optical Sensors at University College London, where she taught graduate and undergraduate classes and led a research group developing silicon micromachined fiber-optic sensors. She then spent 18 years at HP Labs, Agilent Labs, and Avago Technologies, working on reflectometry systems, optical sensors, waveguide devices, image sensor systems, and LEDs, taking some projects through the technology transfer process to manufacturing.

Shalini has published 17 papers in refereed scientific journals, given over 30 presentations at national and international scientific conferences, and is an inventor or coinventor on 10 US patents with 12 more pending. She has reviewed papers for optics and photonics journals, and reviewed grant proposals for the National Science Foundation. She is a senior member of the IEEE and a member of the IET.

Dr. Venkatesh is interested in consulting on projects where expertise in optics is called for, as well as in exploring new areas of technology and business where a physics background coupled with strong communication skills are of value.