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Willie John Padilla

Dr. Paul Wang Distinguished Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Research Interests


Theoretical, computational, and experimental investigation of electromagnetic metamaterials and metasurfaces, with a focus on artificial intelligence, deep / machine learning, with application to spectroscopy, computational imaging and sensing at microwave, terahertz, and infrared frequencies

Selected Grants


Mapping Strain in Composite Materials using Terahertz Metamaterials

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Srico, Inc. · 2024 - 2026

Spectral-Binning Focal Plane Array for Infrared Spectroscopy

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Srico, Inc. · 2025 - 2025

Phase Sensitive Millimeter Wave Imaging with Metamaterials

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Srico, Inc. · 2023 - 2025

Miniaturized Microwave Absolute Calibration (MiniMAC) for Sounders and Imagers on SmallSat and CubeSat Platforms

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Colorado State University · 2021 - 2024

Meta-Optic Surface Autonomous mICromirror array (MOSAIC)

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Quantum Ventura · 2024 - 2024

MWIR/LWIR Detector Standards for Low-Radiometric-Power Calibration in Space Environments

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Srico, Inc. · 2023 - 2024

Metamaterials as a platform for the development of novel materials for energy applications

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Department of Energy · 2015 - 2024

W-band RF Instrumentation

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Srico, Inc. · 2021 - 2023

Diffuse Screens for Dynamic Infrared Scene Projection Systems

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Srico, Inc. · 2021 - 2023

Ultra-High Density Resilient Photonic Integrated Circuits

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Srico, Inc. · 2023 - 2023

Mapping Strain in Composite Materials using Terahertz Metamaterials

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Srico, Inc. · 2022 - 2023

Millimeter Wave Imaging with Metamaterials

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Srico, Inc. · 2022 - 2022

Ultra-Compact Resilient Photonic Integrated Circuits

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Srico, Inc. · 2021 - 2021

Narrowband Perfect Absorber for Infrared Sensing

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Srico, Inc. · 2018 - 2020

All-Dielectric Coherent Absorbers for detection of millimeter wave field strength

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Srico, Inc. · 2019 - 2019

Multidimensional imaging techniques using Metasurface modulators

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2016 - 2019

Multifunctional 3D MetaMaterial Design with Machine Learning (Jon Suen - Fellow)

FellowshipPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education · 2018 - 2019

Infrared Imaging for Improved Metamaterial Characterization

EquipmentPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Office of Naval Research · 2016 - 2017

Exploration of Metameterials for THz Detection and Imaging, Spatial Light Modulation, and Compressive Sensing

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Office of Naval Research · 2015 - 2017

Terahertz Compressive Imaging with Tunable Metamaterial Absorbers

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2015 - 2016

Hyperspectral Sparse Array Digital Imaging

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by SKINfrared LLC · 2015 - 2016

Black Meta-Infrared Detectors Using Type II Superlattices

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by University of New Mexico · 2015 - 2015

Inegrated W-band Compressive Sensing Imager Using Dynamically Tunable Surfaces

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by SensorMetrix · 2014 - 2015