Professor Safieddin Safavi-Naeini, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator

Professor Safieddin Safavi-Naeini holds a Bachelor of Science degree (B.Sc.) in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tehran; and both a Master of Science (M.Sc.) and a Doctorate in Electrical Engineering (Ph.D.), from the University of Illinois.

Dr. Safavi-Naeini joined the University of Waterloo in 1996; where he is currently a full Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.  He holds the $4 million NSERC/RIM Industrial Research Chair in Intelligent Integrated Radio and Photonics at the University. His research interests and activities over last 25 years include: microwave, millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave systems and circuits, TeraHertz systems and devices, antenna and propagation, wireless communication systems, computational methods for analysis and design optimization of quasi-optical and TeraHertz systems, and emerging microwave/photonic integrated technologies. He has lead a number of successful international research projects with research institutes in Germany, Finland, Japan, China, Sweden, S. Korea, and the USA, leading to new methods and technologies used by relevant industries. His well-recognized research contributions have been published in more than 60 journal papers and over 160 conference papers. He has served as scientific and technical consultant to a number of national and international telecommunication industrial and research organizations since 1980.  Recently, his extensive Canada Foundation for Innovation proposal for the establishment of the “Centre for Intelligent Antenna and Radio Systems”, which includes a state-of-the-art TeraHertz signal analysis and radiation measurement laboratory, has been approved at a budgeted cost of $13,000,000 over 5 years (2007-2012.) This world-class facility will be unique in Canada, and among very few worldwide. Several of the novel technologies developed in the course of Dr. Safavi-Naeini’s research programs have been transferred to the industrial sponsors of these programs.

Dr. Daryoosh Saeedkia, Ph.D.
Chief Technology Officer

Dr. Daryoosh Saeedkia holds both a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) and a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree in Electrical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran.  He received his Doctorate degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering (Ph.D.) from the University of Waterloo, in 2005.

During his Ph.D. research, Dr. Saeedkia made significant contributions to research and development activities in the area of emerging TeraHertz, Photonics, and superconductor technologies.  He was nominated by the University for the 2006 Douglas R. Colton Award for Research Excellence, and was designated by the University for Outstanding Achievement in Graduate Studies.  He was furthermore granted the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Innovation Challenge Award in 2006.

A significant focus in Dr. Saeedkia’s research has been pulse signal and continuous-wave TeraHertz sources and detectors. He has done a comprehensive study of the interaction of lasers with ultra-fast photoconductors and high-temperature superconductors, and provided a deep physical insight into the photomixing phenomenon in these materials. Dr. Saeedkia has designed several novel high-power single element and array TeraHertz sources. He has fabricated and successfully tested the first generation of his devices using CMC Microsystems facilities and has received a fabrication grant from CMC Microsystems for his miniaturized TeraHertz biosensor chips.

Dr. Saeedkia is currently an Assistant Research Professor in the RF/Microwave and Photonics Research Group at the University of Waterloo.  He has developed a TeraHertz spectroscopy setup at the University, to test and characterize developed TeraHertz devices and systems. He is currently co-supervising two Ph.D. students.

Dr. Suren Gigoyen, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist

Fulbright Scholar, Head of Millimeter Micro-wave Laboratory, Institute of Radiophysics & Electronics, Armenian National Academy of Sciences