Albert and Ethel Grobstein Professor and University Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering

Elias Towe is currently the Albert & Ethel Grobstein Professor and University Professor at Carnegie Mellon. He is the Director of the National Science Foundation Quantum Computing and Information Technologies (QCiT) Center. Prior to joining Carnegie Mellon in late 2001, he was Program Manager at DARPA, where he led programs in photonics and electronics, including the VLSI Photonics Program, one of the first-generation, large-scale optical interconnect programs. Prof. Towe was educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received the S.B., S.M., and Ph.D. degrees. He is a recipient of several professional awards and honors and is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Research

Towe’s group pursues research in basic optical and quantum phenomena for applications in novel photonic devices that enable a new generation of information-processing systems for communication, computation, and sensing. The group’s system-level research is focused on the construction of two test beds: one for quantum processors based on quantum-dot qubits and another for quantum networks (for sensing and communication).

Education

• 1987
  Ph.D., EECS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 1981
  MS, EECS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 1981
  BS, EECS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology