Lisa M. Zurk

Dr. Lisa M. Zurk

Lisa M. Zurk was awarded a Fulbright program grant in mathematics for the 2000-01 academic year to lecture and conduct research at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Dr. Zurk conducted research in the area of electromagnetic and acoustic wave propagation and scattering in stochastic media at the Rolf Nevanlinna Institute.

The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State sponsors the Fulbright Program, which was established in 1946. As part of the Fulbright program, the U.S. Scholar Program sends approximately 800 established American scholars and professionals a year to more than 125 countries for teaching and research. Recipients of a Fulbright grant are selected on the basis of their academic or professional achievement and their demonstrated leadership capabilities in their field.

Dr. Zurk received a BS in computer science from the University of Massachusetts in 1985, an MS in electrical and computer Engineering from Northeastern University in 1990, and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Washington in 1995.

Dr. Zurk joined Portland State University (PSU) in January 2005 after ten years at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, where she was an Associate Group Leader of a sensor technology group. Upon joining PSU, she founded (and currently directs) the Northwest Electromagnetic and Acoustics Research Laboratory (NEAR-Lab), which has attracted over $2.5 million in funding.  Dr. Zurk’s research is in physics-based sensing, with application to problems such as underwater habitat monitoring using acoustics, terahertz detection of explosives or bio-agents, and remote sensing of the earth’s surface. In 2010 she was selected as the Maseeh Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science at PSU.

Dr. Zurk was the recipient of the 2006 President’s Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers; the nation’s highest honor for professionals at the outset of their academic careers. She is a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and a Senior Member of the IEEE.