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ESE News

Here's what's happening in Electrical & Systems Engineering

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Lan Yang’s lab unlocked new capabilities for whispering-gallery-mode-based sensors by extending its sensing range beyond the immediate surface, while preserving the exceptional sensitivity that has made these sensors so powerful. This can potentially open entirely new sensing modalities and applications. (Credit: Yang lab)

Listening for cells: New sensor detects and classifies freely flowing particles without labels

Lan Yang’s lab develops new sensing technique to detect nanoparticles.

09.22.2026

Mark Lawrence

Lawrence elected as senior member of Optica

Mark Lawrence recognized for outstanding contributions to optical community.

09.17.2026

This illustration visualizes the central finding of Nie, Qiu and Lew's article on single-molecule orientation-localization microscopy (SMOLM): that how you illuminate a molecule matters as much as how you detect it. A single fluorophore sits on a glass coverslip, excited in sequence by four polarized beams optimized via a Fisher-information framework. Each beam's brightness depicts its probability to excite fluorescence. Polarizations aligned with the molecule's transition dipole (red arrow) excite it strongly, while orthogonal polarizations barely excite it at all. Tailoring these modes specifically for a microscope’s dipole-spread function sharpens orientation-measurement precision. Cover image designed and coded with Claude (Anthropic, Sonnet 5 model, accessed via Claude Code). (Credit: Kaizhi A. Nie).

How light can reveal the hidden orientation of a single molecule

Matthew Lew’s lab crafts imaging technology to learn molecular details.

09.10.2026

Events

Upcoming ESE events

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Imaging Science & Engineering seminar | James H. Buckley at Preston M. Green Hall

PhD Virtual Information Session Hosted by the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering

The Center for Quantum Leaps Presents Quantum Industry Colloquium Fall Series at Gustavus A. Pfeiffer Physics Library | Compton Hall

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Faculty Spotlight

Matthew Lew

Builds imaging technologies that redefine how scientists see the invisible

Matthew Lew

Associate Professor

Student Spotlight

Bharat Singhal — Bharat Singhal, pursuing a PhD in electrical engineering

WashU provides a unique research environment where I can collaborate with experts from diverse domains, allowing me to grow as a researcher.

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