Prof. Lal obtained his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Caltech in 1990. He obtained his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from University of California, Berkeley. He conducted his doctoral research at the Berkeley Sensors and Actuators Center in the area of ultrasonic MEMS. After working at University of Wisconsin-Madison as an assistant professor, he is now a professor at Cornell University, in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He holds more than 30 patents and has published more than 190 research papers in the area of microsystem engineering. He has served as a Program Manager at DARPA in the Microsystems Technology Office, from 2005-2009. At DARPA he managed ten and started six new programs in the area of navigation, low-energy computation, bio-robotics, and atomic microsystems. He is the recipient of the NSF CAREER award, and the Whitaker Foundation Award. With his students he has won several best paper awards at the IEEE Ultrasonics and Frequency Control Symposium, and IEEE NEMS conferences. He is also a recipient of the Department of Defense Exceptional Service Award, and a Best Program Manager Award for his work at DARPA.
In addition to School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Prof. Lal is a field member of Biomedical Engineering, Applied Engineering Physics, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Departments. He is a member of Cornell CCMR, NBTC, and KAUST-CU Centers.
Professor Lal's interests are in developing concepts and technologies leading to integrated microsystems using micro and nanoscale fabrication techniques. He directs the SonicMEMS Laboratory, which works on very diverse topics aimed at transforming the way the world can be viewed.
The current focus of his research is on: (1) Gigahertz Ultrasonic for chip-scale communications, sensing, and computation, (2) Near zero power sensors for long-lifetime IoT, (3) Ultrasonic inertial sensors based on surface acoustic waves, (4) Long term stable sensors that utilize lasers locked to optical transitions of alkali metals as Constant-of-Nature on chip, (5) Bulk PZT sensors and actuators, and (6) Chip-scale manipulation of electron and ion beams.
Solid state electromechanical devices, integrated circuits, advanced MEMS and NEMS
Transducers Technical Program Committee, IEEE Ultrasonics and Frequency Control Technical Program Committee, ECE recruiting committee, reviewer for several journals, IEEE Sensors Council
