Amir Malik Muhammad Haris

I am Haris Amir from Pakistan. I completed my undergrad in Electrical Engineering from Air University, Islamabad Pakistan in 2014. After that, I did my Masters's in Electrical Engineering from the National University of Science and Technology. In 2018, I was selected for Erasmus Mundus Scholarship for Masters in Photonic Integrated Circuits, Sensors, and NETworks (PIXNET). I spent my first year at Aston University (UK), the third semester in Osaka University (Japan), and concluded my Master's by doing a thesis from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Italy). Currently, I am doing a Ph.D. in the Microwave Photonics group at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna. My research is focused on Photonics based MIMO Radar Networks.

Arafat Yeasir

Yeasir Arafat is a PhD candidate at Tyndall National Institute. His doctoral research focuses on integrated photonic sensors and optical waveguides under the project titled Center for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Photonic Integration and Advanced Data Storage (PIADS), collaborating with University of Glasgow and Queen’s University Belfast. His previous research work includes optical signal processing and optical logic gates using Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA).
He received a PIXNET Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree from Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (IT) and Aston University (UK), and a BSc in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from AIUB (BD). He acted as the group leader of the Mars Rover project of AIUB in 2017 which was invited by The Mars Society - USA.

Bibi Aisha

Aisha holds Bachelor of Information and Communications Systems Engineering from Pakistan’s best engineering university, National University of Science and Technology (NUST). After completing her B.Sc., she worked in the telecom industry for a couple of years. For her master’s thesis, she designed and characterized an efficient Polarization Splitter Rotator with a compact footprint.
She is now pursuing her PhD in Aston Institute of Photonic Technologies (AiPT) under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Hill and Prof. David Webb in the H2020 ITN MONPLAS project as a Marie Curie Research Fellow. Her core research activities will be on developing a low-cost Lab on Chip based on vibrational spectroscopy to enable quick and accurate detection, identification and quantification of micro and nano plastic particles in fluids. She will have the opportunity of secondments at KTH, VUB and Renishaw to help her achieve a solid background on microfluidics and optical sensing.

Colantonio Matteo

I'm Matteo Colantonio from Rome, Italy. I completed my Bachelor in Electronics Engineering at the University of Rome La Sapienza. During the PIXNET program, I spent one year at Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa and one at the Eindhoven University of Technology. Between the two years, I also had the opportunity to do a short internship at the Ericsson Research Center in Pisa.

Currently, I am working as an Optical Network Engineer at Consortium GARR, the Italian National Education and Research Network, part of the pan-European network GÉANT. Looking back, the PIXNET program has been a fantastic experience for me. It gave me the possibility to meet with and learn from leading experts, acquire hard and soft skills in labs and projects, expose myself to different cultures and mindsets, and now I have exceptional friends working in top institutions across Europe. 

PIXNET is without any doubt one of the best opportunities to start a career in photonics and optical networking.

Dinh Xuan Hiep

I am Hiep, from Vietnam. I received the B.S. degree in School of Engineering Physics from Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Vietnam, in 2013. From 2013 to 2016, I was hardware engineer at Samsung Electronics, Vietnam. I completed PIXNET joint Master course in October 2020 with double degrees from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Italy) and Aston University (the UK).

Currently, I am working towards PhD degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.

My research interests include design and characterization of integrated photonic devices.

I was grateful to be part of the fantastic PIXNET program. It provided me the opportunity to learn from photonic experts. I have acquired the fundamental skills through PIXNET lectures and laboratory sessions which are crucial to my career.

Freire Santana Henrique

Henrique received his bachelor's degree from Federal University of Paraíba (Brazil) in 2017. He completed PIXNET Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters in 2020 with a double degree from Aston University (UK) and Eindhoven University of Technology (the Netherlands). He is currently pursuing his PhD degree at Eindhoven University of Technology on the topic of fast-controlled photonic switches for the next generation of optical networks.

Feyisa Desalegn Wolde

Desalegn Wolde Feyisa received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering (Communication stream)from Adama Science and Technology University, Adama, Ethiopia, in 2013, the joint master’sdegree in Photonic Integrated Circuits, Sensors, and Networks (PIXNET) from the Sant’Anna School of Advances Studies, Pisa, Italy, and in Electrical Engineering from the Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, in 2020. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree with the Electro-Optical Communication Group, Eindhoven University of Technology. His research topic is high-speed and energy-efficient optical switches. His broad research interest is photonic-based information processing for data centers to meet their future demand.

Iqbal Masab

After my undergrad, working in different R&D companies inspired me to take myself to another step forward by pursuing higher studies. I feel myself lucky to be selected in the PIXNET program. This journey has been really amazing for me. Right from the beginning, I shared my wish to my PIXNET classmates that the only thing that fancied me was to get Marie Curie in the field of Networking. No wonder, PIXNET helped me to fulfil this dream of getting PhD in Real-NET where I am working as a PhD student in Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Spain along with being a researcher in Infinera Portugal. If one is a photonics geek or a networking enthusiast, this program is a perfect fit for him/her.

Kabir Tasfia

Tasfia completed her Bachelors from Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department of University of Dhaka, Bangladesh and decided to pursue her Masters in Photonics, a field she found to be of massive potential and interest during her Bachelor thesis. She got selected for PIXNET and was the recipient of the prestigious Erasmus Mundus scholarship for the period of her masters education. She has started a PhD candidacy in Eindhoven University of Technology in the Photonic Integration group. Her field of interests are in photonic integration in InP platform, laser based sensors and continuously tunable lasers. Amongst other things, she has small dreams of making her family proud, having a sunny and big kitchen and travelling as much of the world she can.

Masters thesis dissertation :Study of the Performance of InP based Semiconductor Lasers Integrated with Booster Semiconductor Amplifier. PhD topic: Widely and continuously tunable lasers.sensing

Kaplan Hasan

Hasan Kaplan received his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from Yasar University, Turkey, in 2018. During his education, he studied 1 year in Warsaw University of Technology with Erasmus Exchange. He got selected for PIXNET with the Erasmus Mundus scholarship for the period of his masters education. In 2020 Hasan received his Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s degrees from Scuola Superiore Sant`Anna and Eindhoven University of Technology. For his Master’s thesis he modelled a Matching Circuit for Connection between Mach-Zehnder Modulator and Driver Circuit operating at 10GHz frequency. Currently, he is working as a PDeng Trainee at Eindhoven University of Technology in the group of Software Technology. His motivation during all this work is: exploring the world and having multinational friends from all over the world!

Kiranti Krishan

I am currently working as a Graduate Engineer at Rockley Photonics Ltd, Wales, UK. I am from Pakistan and completed my bachelor's degree in Telecommunication Engineering from Mehran University of Engineering & Technology, Jamshoro, Pakistan. In 2015, I was awarded prestigious scholarship of Global UGRAD Pakistan to study 6 months abroad as an exchange student in University of Wisconsin - Stout, Menomonie, USA. I worked as an intern in PTCL for one year after my graduation and completed my CCNA certification. Thereafter, I was awarded another prestigious scholarship and received Erasmus Mundus Joint Master's degree in Photonic Integrated Circuits, Sensors and Networks (PIXNET) with Aston University (Birmingham, UK) and Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (Pisa, Italy).

Memon Anzal

Anzal Memon did her bachelors in Telecommunication Engineering from Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro, Pakistan. After working for a year in a telecommunication company, she decided to pursue a master's in Photonics and begin with a master's degree in 2018 with Erasmus Mundus funded PIXNET program. During her master's thesis at the Osaka University, she worked on "Gain Clamped Semiconductor Optical Amplifier". Currently, she is working as a PhD candidate at the University of Twente, the Netherlands in the group of Laser Physics and Nonlinear Optics. Her PhD work is based on "Highly integrated Mode-locked Lasers".

Anzal's research interests include Photonic integration in the hybrid platform, mode-locked lasers, laser physics and optical communication.

Mukit Mohammad

Mukit is a Doctoral Candidate at the Electro-Optical Communication (ECO) research group of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). Presently, he is committed to his research on two individual projects, the first with Indium Phosphide platform to design photonic integrated bi-directional optical amplifier subsystem for WDM active distribution node to implement 5G and beyond mobile fronthaul networks. And the second with establishing a novel platform using Titanium Dioxide for telecom and datacom application to implement photonic devices and optical switches. Mukit has acquired his Masters degree on Photonic Integrated Circuits, Sensors and NETworks (PIXNET) from Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Italy, and Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands. During his graduation thesis, he worked on modeling photonic devices on novel platform for telecom and datacom application. He completed his bachelors from American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB). During his undergraduate thesis, he worked on modeling thin film organic solar cell for efficient light trapping. Mukit was awarded the Erasmus+ scholarship for his master's program and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie scholarship for PhD program.

Nguyen Long Hoang

Long Hoang Nguyen obtained his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Vietnam in 2017. He then attended the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree (EMJMD) in Photonic Integrated Circuits, Sensors and Networks (PIXNET) at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Italy and Aston University, UK in 2018-2020. His master dissertation topic was about all-optical regeneration for advanced modulation signals where he investigated the end-to-end system performance of multiple cascaded optical regenerators for Nyquist pulses. He is currently working as an Early Stage Researcher (ESR) at Aston University in the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions - Innovative Training Networks (MSCA-ITN) project "POST-DIGITAL" in photonic neuromorphic computing. His research focuses on optical signal processing techniques based on neural approaches for channel equalization in advanced fiber-optic communication systems.

Proano Grijalva Esteban Andres

I obtained my degree in Electrical Engineering from the University San Francisco de Quito. After that I graduated from the PIXNET master programme, and now I am a PhD student at DTU in the NETLAS project that is part of the MSCA ITN scheme, where I work in the characterization and fabrication of MEMS VCSELs for the development of biomedical applications. I will always be thankful with the PIXNET programme because it gave me the opportunity to meet great friends and to pursue a doctorate in an excellent university.