Interview with Vinod Menon

Vinod Menon is a professor of physics at the City University of New York (CUNY) in Harlem, where his Laboratory for Nano and Micro Photonics probes the secrets of light and regularly hosts invited school students to experience research.

Where and when were you born?
Kochi, in southwest India’s coastal Kerala state.

How has this shaped you?
Kerala is a state with a very high literacy rate, and education was always an important aspect in my family. We had several academics on my mom’s side. My father had studied to be a marine biologist, although he took a different job to help the family. And the schooling system was really great. I had so many influential teachers, especially in the sciences, that I’m still in touch with. They are very happy to see me where I am.

They sparked your interest in science?
Yes. And my father, who used to buy me books about new products. Not kits, but books – you had to figure out how to make the thing. So we made things, and we would sometimes blow the fuse in the house. One of the projects I worked on, I think in fourth or fifth grade, was a shoebox that I put a bunch of mirrors inside, with a tiny hole on each of two sides. I wanted to see if I could trap light. And I joked to somebody that I’ve continued doing that all my life – I still make things where I trap light.

Should an average citizen care about such work?
Yes, for two reasons. One, the students I train through my research become the next generation of scientists and technology developers. And two, the study of light-matter interaction – a fundamental process seen in nature – is important to discoveries fundamental to emerging technologies in such diverse areas as healthcare, quantum computing and machine learning, among others.

What would you like to be remembered for?
For that training of future scientists. People complain about the fact that we don’t have a pipeline of diverse students applying to colleges or applying to academic jobs. But the fact is that the pipeline was broken long ago. So besides my academic research in the lab and my work with undergraduates, I try to spend some time with middle school students and high school students who come to my lab to work. That’s another reason why the general public should care about what we do – because these research labs, or at least my research lab, are not doing something that is just for the fancy of mind. I have a high school student right now who works in my lab – he comes in two to three times a week to do his research, and he would not have had this opportunity if I hadn’t opened up my lab.

Does that explain why you work at a place like CUNY, rather than an institution more conventionally regarded as elite?
Yes. The students that we get make a difference for me on a day-to-day basis – because these are students who are extremely motivated. But they’ve never had the exposure about what it means to do high school research, or what it means to be a scientist, or sometimes don’t even know the fact that if you go to graduate school to do a PhD, it is actually fully funded for you. So making them aware of these opportunities – and giving them – you make a big difference in somebody’s life. I feel good about it when I hear that an undergraduate who worked in my lab is now doing her PhD at Harvard or Princeton, or things like that. I feel really good about it.

Tell us about someone you’ve always admired.
My grandmother, who, despite not being college-educated, instilled in me the value of education.

What produced that in her?
Kerala used to have a matriarchal society – women were educated – and it was in her family. Her brother was an economics professor, and her father was an engineer. So she was exposed to people who were academics.

What’s your most memorable moment at university?
In 2021, while I was the chair of the department, I got a box of cash – $180,000 [£146,000] – mailed to me. It came anonymously, with a letter describing the sender as an area high school student who earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in physics at City College, leading to a “long, productive, immensely rewarding” career in science.

What came of that?
We never learned the person’s identity, and I think we should respect his or her desire to stay anonymous. It’s wonderful that somebody who is giving money wants to stay anonymous in this day and age, where everybody wants to put their name on things. After the FBI investigated and found no criminal origins, we began using the money to fund annual scholarships of $7,500 to pay the tuition for two top physics students. We’ll have enough money to do this every year for 12 years.

What are the best and worst things about your job?
Best part: I get to work – research and teach – with smart and motivated students, and get to work on problems that excite me every day. Worst part: constantly having to look for grants to support research – especially having to sometimes chase the hyped-up topics.

What advice do you give to your students?
Stay motivated and build your reasoning skills – these qualities help with most things in life.

What do you do for fun?
Physics, music – jazz and Indian classical – soccer and cooking. Soccer is very popular in Kerala, and I used to play in an adult league before my knee got a little bad. So now I live through our two kids – I watch them and sometimes practise with them. I used to play the drums in college, though I’m more of a listener now.

What keeps you awake at night?
I would love for reasoning to become a norm. I wish people would be taught the idea that you can think first before you come to conclusions.

How do you do that?
Develop this idea of reasoning at a younger age, with problem-solving. That helps children become independent thinkers.

CV

1995 Master’s degree in physics (quantum optics), University of Hyderabad, India

2001 Doctorate in physics, University of Massachusetts

2001-03 Postdoctoral fellow in photonics, Princeton University

2003-04 Research staff member, Princeton

2004-06 Visiting researcher, Princeton

2004-10 Assistant professor of physics, City University of New York (CUNY)

2010-14 Associate professor of physics, CUNY

2012-13 Visiting scholar, Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2014-16 Director, CUNY Centre for Advanced Technology in Photonics

2014-present Professor of physics, CUNY

2019-present Chair, department of physics, CUNY

2020 Fellow, Optical Society of America

Appointments

Lori Stewart Gonzalez has been announced as the next president of Ohio State University. The current University of Louisville executive vice-president and university provost will take up the post on 1 July, succeeding Hugh Sherman. Dr Gonzalez, who grew up in the Appalachian region, brings an academic background in communication sciences and disorders, with professional experience as a speech-language pathologist. She said: “I know that when communities come together to support public education, our cities and towns are strengthened, our civic engagement is elevated and the students we serve discover new opportunities that change their lives and the lives of generations to come.”

David Maguire has been appointed vice-chancellor of the financially troubled University of East Anglia. Professor Maguire, who ran the University of Greenwich for eight years until 2019 and has since been interim vice-chancellor of Dundee and Sussex universities, will take over the Norwich-based university towards the end of May. Sally Howes, UEA’s chair of council, said he would “lead us through a time of significant transformation and change as we work to secure our future financial sustainability”. His appointment follows last month’s resignation and departure of David Richardson as vice-chancellor after the institution’s financial troubles became clear.

UCL’s Global Business School for Health, the world’s first business school dedicated to health, has appointed global healthcare expert Mark Britnell as a professor. He has previously been director general at the UK’s Department of Health, a member of the NHS Management Board, and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Health Council.

The Australian Research Council has appointed two Monash University researchers to senior roles: Christina Twomey as the ARC’s inaugural chief research officer and Alison Ross to a three-year term as executive director, humanities and creative arts.

Heriot-Watt University has named Grant Wheeler head of commercialisation.