Steve DenBaars
Professor of Materials and Electrical Engineering,
and Co-Director of the Solid-State Lighting and Display Center
University of California, Santa Barbara

Steven DenBaars, Professor of Materials and Electrical Engineering, and Co-Director of the Solid-State Lighting and Display Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara started his professional career as a member of the technical staff at Hewlett-Packard's Optoelectronics Division involved in the growth and fabrication of high brightness (HB) visible LEDs. Dr. DenBaars joined the faculty of UCSB in 1991. His specific research interests include growth of wide-bandgap semiconductors (GaN based), and their application to Blue LEDs and laser and high power electronic devices. This research has led to the first U.S. university demonstration of a Blue GaN laser diode in 1997. In 1997 he co-founded with Prof. Umesh Mishra Nitres Inc. a GaN start-up company which was acquired by Cree Inc in 2000. He is author or co-author on over 430 journal publications amd has filed over 18 patents on GaN technology.