Peter Delfyett to Lead National Society of Black Physicists

  Peter Delfyett, a University of Central Florida professor of optics, physics and electrical and computer engineering, has been named president-elect of the National Society of Black Physicists.

The society, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, promotes the professional development of African-American physicists within the international science community and in society. The organization also seeks to develop and support efforts to increase opportunities for African-Americans in physics and to increase the visibility of their scientific work.

Delfyett will serve as the society’s president-elect for one year and then as president for two years. He was selected during the society’s annual conference Feb. 20 to 25 in Boston .

Delfyett, who has taught at UCF for 13 years, holds a University Trustee Chair in the Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers, or CREOL, at the College of Optics and Photonics. He has served as editor-in-chief of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics. He is a fellow of the Optical Society of America.

In 2001, Delfyett won UCF’s Pegasus Professor Award, the highest honor the university gives to a faculty member who demonstrates excellence in teaching, research and service. He has published more than 400 articles in journals and conference proceedings, and he has received 20 U.S. patents.

Delfyett and his team of doctoral students and scientists are trying to increase the speed at which data can be transmitted through semiconductor chips like the ones used in computers. Improving that speed would help computers download information from the Internet much faster and make computer networks work faster.

Leonard Kisimbi, a native of Kenya who now lives in Orlando and is one of the graduate students in Delfyett’s research group, received a Best Student Poster Award from the National Society of Black Physicists during the conference in Boston .

Kisimbi, a graduate of Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach , is working on developing a compact, electrically efficient and high-powered semiconductor diode laser for high-resolution Light Detection And Ranging, commonly known as LIDAR.