Ursula J. Gibson is a materials scientist who specialises in novel core

optical fibres An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means t ...

Early life and education

Gibson was born in Sheffield, England, and moved to the US in the 1960s, living in the Philadelphia area, then Ithaca, New York. She received in A.B. in physics from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

. She received her M.Sc. and Ph.D. from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

under the supervision of Robert Buhrman in 1978 and 1982, respectively. Her graduate research was in the area of

thin film A thin film is a layer of material ranging from fractions of a nanometer (monolayer) to several micrometers in thickness. The controlled synthesis of materials as thin films (a process referred to as deposition) is a fundamental step in many ap ...

composites. During her doctoral work she held a Bell Laboratories Graduate Research Program for Women grant, and spent two summers working at

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...

Research and career

After her PhD, Gibson joined the faculty of the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

, working at the Optical Sciences Center, and was promoted to associate professor. In 1990 Gibson returned to

, joining the faculty of the

Thayer School of Engineering Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth (Dartmouth Engineering) offers graduate and undergraduate education in engineering sciences at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The school was established in 1867 with funds from C ...

. Here she taught materials science and nanotechnology, participating in interdisciplinary efforts with chemists at Dartmouth and biologists in the

Norris Cotton Cancer Center Dartmouth Cancer Center (DCC) is a comprehensive cancer center as designated by the National Cancer Institute, with administrative offices located within the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire. DCC combines advanced can ...

. She was elected to the board of directors of

The Optical Society Optica (formerly known as The Optical Society (OSA) and before that as the Optical Society of America) is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals and organizes conference ...

in 2002. Gibson joined the

Norwegian University of Science and Technology Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

(NTNU) in 2010. She was elected to the International Commission on Optics Bureau in 2011. She retired from NTNU and

KTH Royal Institute of Technology The KTH Royal Institute of Technology ( sv, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, lit=Royal Institute of Technology), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technolo ...

in 2021. In addition to an NTNU emerita appointment, she is currently an adjunct professor at

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...

and emerita at

Gibson's research on optical materials has been wide-ranging, including polymers, protein crystals and semiconductors, with an emphasis on limited dimension structures such as thin films and waveguides. She holds four patents and has authored 7 book contributions. Prof. Gibson's present research is focused on semiconductor-core optical fibers. Gibson works on optical materials and nanostructures, with a focus on

photovoltaic cells A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physical and chemical phenomenon.

. In particular, she is developing optical fibres with cores made from group IV and

III-V semiconductor Semiconductor materials are nominally small band gap insulators. The defining property of a semiconductor material is that it can be compromised by doping it with impurities that alter its electronic properties in a controllable way. Because of t ...

s. The semiconductor core materials have

nonlinear optical Nonlinear optics (NLO) is the branch of optics that describes the behaviour of light in ''nonlinear media'', that is, media in which the polarization density P responds non-linearly to the electric field E of the light. The non-linearity is typic ...

and

electro-optic Electro–optics is a branch of electrical engineering, electronic engineering, materials science, and material physics involving components, electronic devices such as lasers, laser diodes, LEDs, waveguides, etc. which operate by the propag ...

properties, and can be produced in bulk quantities. The fibres have low thermal mass and large aspect ratios, which allows laser heat treatment resulting in recrystallization of the semiconductor and spatial homogenization or segregation of the constituents in alloy materials. The laser treatment was used by Gibson to write structures of

germanium Germanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ge and atomic number 32. It is lustrous, hard-brittle, grayish-white and similar in appearance to silicon. It is a metalloid in the carbon group that is chemically similar to its group neighbors s ...

-rich material in crystalline SiGe core fibres. Rapid directional cooling allows the mixture to form a

single crystal In materials science, a single crystal (or single-crystal solid or monocrystalline solid) is a material in which the crystal lattice of the entire sample is continuous and unbroken to the edges of the sample, with no grain boundaries.RIWD. "Re ...

, which is optimal for optical transmission, and has superior mechanical properties. Together with physicist Zahra Ghadyani, Gibson founded the company NorFib to commercialize a fiber-based system for generating electricity with

solar energy Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an essenti ...

. In 2017 she was elected to Academia Net by the

Swedish Research Council The Swedish Research Council ( sv, Vetenskapsrådet) is a Government agency in Sweden established in 2001, with the responsibility to support and develop basic scientific research. Its objective is for Sweden to be a leading nation in scienti ...

. Gibson has held visiting positions at the United States Air Force Academy, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Tampere University of Technology (Finland), Chalmers University (Sweden), and the University of Queensland (Australia), among others. She has served as a consultant for many enterprises, including Kodak Inc., the US Department of Defense and the American University of Kuwait.

Awards and honours

*1997

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

American Society for Engineering Education The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) is a non-profit member association, founded in 1893, dedicated to promoting and improving engineering and engineering technology education. The purpose of ASEE is the advancement of education ...

Visiting Research Fellow *2001

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...

Frontiers in Engineering *2004

Network of Educator Astronaut Teachers *2008

Fulbright Fellow The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd is a state-owned and controlled non-profit limited liability company. VTT is the largest research and technology company and research centre conducting applied research in Finland. It provides resear ...

*2018 Fellow of

Personal life

Gibson is married to Ulf Österberg of the

; they have three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Ursula Jane Dartmouth College alumni Cornell University alumni American women physicists American physicists Academic staff of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology University of Arizona faculty Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Fellows of Optica (society) Women in optics American women academics 21st-century American women