UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Ken Knappenberger, department head and professor of chemistry in the Penn State Eberly College of Science, was selected as a 2026 Optica Fellow. Fellows are selected based on factors including outstanding contributions to research, business, education, engineering and service to Optica and the community.
“It is my pleasure to welcome the 2026 class of Optica Fellows,” said Jim Kafka, 2025 Optica president. “These members exemplify Optica’s core values through their innovative and impactful work, which is advancing the science of light. Congratulations, and thank you for your dedication to Optica and our field.”
Knappenberger’s research is focused on understanding structural photonics — which describes the structure-function interplay of light-matter interactions — with specific areas of focus including plasmonic nanostructures, quantum photonics, super-resolution optical microscopy, and ultrafast multidimensional spectroscopy.
In 2020, he was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and received the Coblentz Award from the Coblentz Society in 2016. In 2015, Knappenberger received the Developing Scholar Award from Florida State University and the Joseph Wang Award in Nanoscience. He received Young Investigator Awards from the U.S. Department of Defense Air Force Office of Scientific Research in 2010 and from the Inter-American Photochemical Society in 2012, as well as the National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2011.
Optica, Advancing Optics and Photonics Worldwide, is the society dedicated to promoting the generation, application, archiving and dissemination of knowledge in the field. Founded in 1916, it is the leading organization for scientists, engineers, business professionals, students and others interested in the science of light.