Maria Kafesaki is Associate Professor in the Dept. of Materials Science and Technology of the University of Crete and Adjunct Researcher at the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser (IESL) of Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH). She obtained her Ph.D. in 1997, at the Physics Department of the University of Crete, Greece. She has worked as post-doctoral researcher in the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas in Madrid, Spain, and in IESL of FORTH (1997-2001). Her current research is on the area of electromagnetic wave propagation in periodic and random media, with emphasis on photonic crystals and metamaterials. She has more than 100 publications in refereed journals and conference proceedings (with more than 5000 citations), she has participated in various European projects as well as in the organization of many international conferences and schools. Also she is Fellow of the Optical Society of America.

Education

• PhD in 1997, from Physics Department, Univ. of Crete, Greece
• MSc in 1992, Physics Department, Univ. of Crete, Greece
• BSc in 1990, at Physics Department, of the Univ. of Crete, Greece

Interests

• Electromagnetic waves in complex media (metamaterials, photonic crystals, plasmonic materials, ...)
• Elastic waves in random and periodic composite media

Awards/Prizes/Distinctions

• Fellow of the Optical Society of America, 2014
• Member of the team which achieved the EU Descartes prize for collaborative research in metamaterials, in 2005

Other

• Associate editor at EPJ: Applied Metamaterials Journal (http://epjam.edp-open.org/)
• Section editor at JEOS:RP (Journal of European Optical Society: Rapid Publications) (https://www.jeos.org/index.php/jeos_rp)
• Governing Board Member of Metamorphose VI (the Virtual Institute for Artificial Electromagnetic Materials and Metamaterials), http://www.metamorphose-vi.org/