Rate My Professor Emma MacPherson

Professor Emma MacPherson is a Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Warwick. She obtained an undergraduate degree in natural sciences from Cambridge University, followed by an MSci in Physics specializing in semiconductor physics. In 2005, she completed her PhD with the Semiconductor Physics Group at Cambridge University and TeraView Ltd, focusing on contrast mechanisms in terahertz images of skin cancer. Her professional career began as a Medical Scientist at TeraView Ltd until 2006. From 2006 to 2009, she served as Assistant Professor in the Department of Electronic Engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), where she established a terahertz laboratory. She then held a Visiting Assistant Professor position at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology from September 2009 to 2012, before returning to CUHK's Department of Electronic Engineering in September 2012. In October 2017, she joined the University of Warwick's Physics Department and was promoted to Professor in 2021. MacPherson has been a member of the International Organising Committee for the Infrared and Millimeter Wave and Terahertz Wave (IRMMW-THz) conference series since 2009 and served as General Conference Chair for the 2015 event at CUHK.

Her research centers on terahertz (THz) medical imaging and spectroscopy, including in vivo skin imaging for conditions such as skin cancer, development of THz devices and instrumentation to accelerate imaging acquisition, THz ellipsometry, robotic THz probes, and characterisation algorithms utilizing genetic algorithms, skin modelling, and compressive sensing. As Principal Investigator of the £8 million EPSRC Programme Grant Terabotics: Terahertz Robotics for Surgery and Medicine, she leads efforts to advance non-invasive diagnostics. She is integrated within the Ultrafast Terahertz Photonics group and heads the Terahertz Research Group at Warwick. MacPherson has received the Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award and the 2024 IRMMW-THz Society Exceptional Service Award, the first awarded to a female recipient. A notable publication is the cover-featured article 'Exploiting Total Internal Reflection Geometry for Terahertz Devices and Enhanced Sample Characterization' in Advanced Optical Materials (February 2020). Her work has been highlighted in media outlets including BBC Midland News (April 2024) and Sky international news (October 2022) for THz-based skin cancer detection innovations.