Liang Gao is an associate professor of bioengineering at UCLA’s Samueli School of Engineering, specializing in ultrafast optical imaging and high-speed optics. Gao has made groundbreaking contributions to high-speed optics, notably in the development of several ultrafast optical imaging techniques. His work not only revolutionized the understanding of transient phenomena, but also paved the way for innovative applications across diverse scientific disciplines. His technical accomplishments include the invention of the world’s fastest 2D camera in which his revolutionary method, compressed ultrafast photography (CUP), marked a pivotal advancement in ultrafast imaging; the invention of the world’s fastest 3D camera through the groundbreaking development of light field tomography (LIFT) technique, a paradigm-shifting advancement in computational ultrafast cameras; and the invention of squeezed light field microscopy (SLIM), a technique for high-speed 3D imaging under low-light conditions.
An SPIE Fellow, Gao’s accolades include a National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2017, a National Institute of General Medical Sciences MIRA (Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award) for Early-Stage Investigators in 2018, and a Frontiers of Science Award from the International Congress of Basic Science in 2024. He sits on the BiOS Conference Program Committee and is the inaugural chair of the Computational Optical Imaging and Artificial Intelligence in Biomedical Sciences conference at SPIE Photonics West. As well as publishing his research in the SPIE journals Optical Engineering and the Journal of Biomedical Optics, Gao has served as a guest editor for the latter, and as a reviewer for both publications.
“I have known Liang Gao for more than a decade,” notes Professor and Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Stephen A. Boppart. “Professor Gao is an inquisitive and passionate scientist who always takes a creative approach in his research, dares to think big, and follows new ideas wherever they may lead. He is the inventor of numerous novel and highly innovative ultrafast imaging tools and technologies which exhibit significant potential to accelerate progress in biomedical research and clinical care. Among his achievements, his seminal work on an ultrafast imager and a hyperspectral imager, represent exciting research that will undoubtedly have a major impact in not only our optical science and engineering communities, but also in a variety of disciplines including biology and medicine. Professor Gao’s academic energy seems boundless. His accomplishments have had and will continue to have a tremendous impact on high-speed optics and imaging science, but will also impact many other scientific and engineering fields because of the universality of the tools and technologies he develops.”
Meet the other 2025 SPIE Society Award recipients.
Read more about Liang Gao and the SPIE Harold E. Edgerton Award in High-Speed Optics.