Bell Labs Scientist and Innovator in Nonlinear Optics Aref Chowdhury to Join National Academy of Engineering Symposium

Bell Labs´ Aref Chowdhury to participate in 2006 U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium; event brings together experts in academia, government and industry on key engineering topics

SEPTEMBER 21, 2006 - MURRAY HILL, N.J. - Bell Labs, the R&D arm of Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU), today announced that Aref Chowdhury, a researcher in the field of optical physics has been selected by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) as one of eighty-one engineers from around the nation to participate in the 12th annual U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium. The symposium, which will be held Sept. 21-23 at Ford Research and Innovation Center in Dearborn, Mich., brings together engineers ages 30 to 45 who are performing cutting-edge engineering research and technical work in a variety of disciplines.

The intent of the symposium is to tap the knowledge and creativity of outstanding leaders in the engineering field from industry, academia, and government, offering an opportunity to share pioneering technical work across a variety of disciplines and contribute new ideas to leading-edge research. This year´s symposium will examine the nanotechnology-biology interface, intelligent software systems and machines, supply chain management, and personal mobility.

"Aref is an innovative contributor to the optical field and his work is helping us meet our customers´ real world challenges in optical networking" said Richart Slusher, director, Quantum Information and Optics Research. "We´re very proud to have him representing Bell Labs at this prestigious event"

Chowdhury studies nonlinear optics -- a field that is critical to the telecommunications industry´s understanding of long-haul optical transport networks. Recently, Chowdhury’s research focused on exploring ways to minimize the distortions in optical signals with the goal of making optical networks as efficient and reliable in the thousandth mile as they are in the first. He and his colleagues have made advancements in mitigating nonlinearities in high-speed long haul optical systems using a technique called optical phase conjugation. Chowdhury is currently pursuing research on the nonlinear properties of negative refractive index media, an area which he believes has the potential of improving the performance of optical and airborne communication systems. As a graduate student, he designed and fabricated nonlinear photonic crystals that could be used to switch data between individual wavelengths of light when routing information optically -- also known as "wavelength switching"

Chowdhury also works on wireless sensor networks. In particular, he is trying to network magnetometers, which detect changes or disturbances in magnetic fields to detect the presence, size, location and orientation of metallic objects.

Chowdhury joined Bell Labs in 2001 after receiving a bachelor´s degree in electrical engineering and applied mathematics and statistics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and a doctoral degree in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, where he received an SPIE (the International Society for Optical Engineering) scholarship and was a Grumman Corporation scholar.

To date, Chowdhury has published 14 papers, has presented 20 conference papers and has filed 18 patents. In 2004, he was selected as one of MIT Technology Review´s TR100.

Past Bell Labs participants in the U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium include: Gee Rittenhouse (2005), Markus Hofmann and Hock Ng (2004), Steven J. van Enk (2002), Rebecca Jordan (1999), Kathleen S. Krisch (1998), William L. Wilson (1997), Elsa Reichmanis and Afshin Partovi (1996) and Iris Artaki (1995).

About Bell Labs and Lucent Technologies

Bell Labs is the leading source of new communications technologies and has been for eighty years. It has generated more than 31,000 patents since 1925 and has played a pivotal role in inventing or perfecting key communications technologies, including transistors, digital networking and signal processing, lasers and fiber-optic communications systems, communications satellites, cellular telephony, electronic switching of calls, touch-tone dialing, and modems. Bell Labs scientists have received six Nobel Prizes in Physics, nine U.S. National Medals of Science and eight U.S. National Medals of Technology. For more information about Bell Labs, visit its Web site at http://www.bell-labs.com.

Lucent Technologies designs and delivers the systems, services and software that drive next-generation communications networks. Backed by Bell Labs research and development, Lucent uses its strengths in mobility, optical, software, data and voice networking technologies, as well as services, to create new revenue-generating opportunities for its customers, while enabling them to quickly deploy and better manage their networks. Lucent´s customer base includes communications service providers, governments and enterprises worldwide. For more information on Lucent Technologies, which has headquarters in Murray Hill, N.J., USA, visit http://www.lucent.com.

Contact Information

Devon Prutzman

Lucent Technologies Bell Labs

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