Filbert J. Bartoli

Filbert J. Bartoli—who has conducted and managed groundbreaking research in photonics, optoelectronics, quantum well devices, nanotechnology and more in a 35-year professional career—has been named chair of the electrical and computer engineering department.

Bartoli’s appointment, which will take effect at the beginning of the fall semester, was announced by S. David Wu, Iacocca Professor and dean of the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science.

“Fil Bartoli is an accomplished and high-profile scholar who has made critical contributions to most of the emerging fields in electrical and computer engineering,” Wu says. “His ability to manage a wide spectrum of research projects is impressive. I am confident that his experience and talents will prove as valuable to the ECE department at Lehigh as they have to the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL).”

Bartoli comes to Lehigh from NSF, where he has served since 2000 as program director for electronics, photonics and device technologies in the Electrical and Communications Systems Division. At NSF, Bartoli has managed research programs in optoelectronics and photonics, MEMS, sensors, integrated microsystems, and biomedical applications. He has also managed a solicitation on sensors and sensor networks as well as an ERC (Engineering Research Center) on extreme ultraviolet science and technology at Colorado State University.

Infrared and imaging technology research

Before joining NSF, Bartoli spent 30 years at NRL, starting as a research physicist in the Optical Sciences Division, and later heading the Sources and Effects Section (1985-1993) and the Advanced Materials Section (1993-2000).

Bartoli’s most recent responsibilities at NRL included directing research on nonlinear optical organics and narrow-gap semiconductors, ultrafast processes in solutions and condensed phase, two-photon interactions, smectic liquid crystals, optical limiters, semiconductor micro- and nanostructures, and mid-IR quantum well lasers.

Among the new technologies Bartoli investigated during his career at NRL were infrared sensors for surveillance, fire control and threat-warning systems, and next-generation imaging technology using focal-plane arrays and signal and image processors. Bartoli established interactions with Texas Instruments, the Santa Barbara Research Center, Hughes Aircraft, Rockwell International, Raytheon, Honeywell and other major sensor manufacturers.

As a section head in NRL’s Electro-Optical Technology Branch, Bartoli directed and funded a multi-disciplinary research consortium for new nonlinear optical materials, which included MIT, Columbia University, Purdue University, Brooklyn Polytech, Hughes Research Laboratories as well as international academic institutions and industries.

In the latter part of his career at NRL, Bartoli conducted research on quantum well device physics, nanotechnology, mid-IR semiconductor diode lasers, and optical limiting and switching.

Bartoli is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America and the IEEE (Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers). He is a member of the American Physical Society, and serves on the IEEE Laser and Electro-optical Society (LEOS) Board of Governors and on the Steering Committee for the Conference on Lasers and Electro-optics (CLEO). He is also associate editor of the IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics and former chair of the CLEO Subcommittee on Optical Materials.

He has published more than 300 technical papers, including more than 130 in refereed journals. He holds 18 patents and one license, and is co-editor of a book titled Properties of II-VI Semiconductors.

Bartoli earned his bachelor and master degrees in electrical engineering, and a Ph.D. in physics, from the Catholic University of America.

--Kurt Pfitzer

Posted on Friday, July 15, 2005