Rate My Professor Arjun Yodh

Arjun G. Yodh is the James M. Skinner Professor of Science and Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned a B.Sc. in Applied and Engineering Physics from Cornell University in 1981, an M.S. in 1982, and a Ph.D. in 1986 from Harvard University in the Division of Applied Sciences. Following postdoctoral research at AT&T Bell Laboratories with Steven Chu from 1986 to 1987 and Harry W. K. Tom from 1987 to 1988, Yodh joined the University of Pennsylvania as Assistant Professor of Physics in 1988, advancing to Associate Professor in 1993 and Professor in 1997. He held the William Smith Term Chair from 1997 to 2000 and assumed the James M. Skinner Professorship in 2000. From 2009 to 2020, he served as Director of the Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter (LRSM) and its NSF-supported Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC). He became Department Chair in 2022 and holds a secondary appointment as Associated Professor of Radiation Oncology in the Perelman School of Medicine, with memberships in the graduate groups of Bioengineering and Materials Science and Engineering.

Yodh's research encompasses condensed matter physics, biophysics, medical physics, and atomic, molecular, and optical sciences, with emphasis on soft materials such as colloids, liquid crystals, complex fluids, networks, films, glasses, and carbon nanotubes; optical microscopy; micromanipulation; linear and nonlinear optics; laser spectroscopy; light scattering; and biophotonics and biomedical optics for functional imaging and monitoring of living tissues including brain, breast, muscle, spine, and placenta, along with photodynamic therapy. Key publications include "High weight fraction surfactant solubilization of single-wall carbon nanotubes in water" (Nano Letters, 2003), "Suppression of the coffee-ring effect by shape-dependent capillary interactions" (Nature, 2011), "Diffuse optics for tissue monitoring and tomography" (Reports on Progress in Physics, 2010), "Spectroscopy and imaging with diffusing light" (Physics Today, 1995), and "Concurrent MRI and diffuse optical tomography of breast after indocyanine green enhancement" (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2000). His honors include the Michael S. Feld Biophotonics Award from Optica (2021), Provost’s Award for Distinguished PhD Teaching and Mentoring from the University of Pennsylvania (2024), Alexander von Humboldt Senior Research Award (2015), Fellow of the American Physical Society (1998), Fellow of Optica (2000), Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2016), and Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2017). Yodh has mentored over 100 PhD students and postdoctoral associates, edited journals such as Biomedical Optics Express, and secured over $80 million in research grants as principal or co-investigator.