In memoriam: Professor Anand Gopinath
Professor Anand Gopinath passed away in August 2024. A brilliant researcher who was widely recognized for his contributions to microwave devices, optoelectronics, and MRI signal processing, Gopinath was also an ardent fan of classical music and enjoyed the outdoors. The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering will remember him for his academic and professional contributions and is grateful for having enjoyed his company these many years. We will deeply miss him.
In honor of Professor Anand Gopinath's and his family's contributions to the University of Minnesota, ECE along with the family are establishing a fund that will support students. Please consider contributing to it.
The following obituary was shared by his family with ECE.
Dr. Anand Gopinath (1936 – 2024)
Dr. Anand Gopinath, a pioneer in the modeling of microwave strip lines, integrated optical devices, and signal processing for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), passed away on August 14, 2024. He is remembered for his significant contributions to the microwave, optics, and MRI communities, his dedication to teaching, and his generosity of spirit.
Anand was born on August 6, 1936 in Madras (now Chennai), India. He had a
joyful disposition and a passion for excellence. As a young man, he learned to fly airplanes in the National Cadet Corps Air Wing and represented India in the International Air Rally in England. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Madras in 1957, followed by a Master’s Degree from IIT Kharagpur in 1960, and his Ph.D. and D. Eng. from the University of Sheffield in 1965.
Anand began his academic career as a Senior Lecturer at the University College of North Wales in Bangor (1966-1978). He moved to the US to join MIT Lincoln Laboratory as a Research Staff Member (1978 – 1986). He then joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (1986-2020). Over his 34-year tenure, he graduated 27 Ph.D. students, mentored undergraduate and master’s students, and championed diversity and inclusion.
Anand’s research spanned microwave devices, optoelectronics, and MRI signal processing. His early work used scanning electron microscopy to probe resistivity variations in gallium arsenide devices. His work calculating the parameters of equivalent circuits of microstrip line discontinuities is still used today in microwave circuit design.
At MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Anand’s team demonstrated the first millimeter-wave monolithically integrated transmitters and transceivers on gallium arsenide with diode and metal-semiconductor field effect transistor active elements.
At the University of Minnesota, Anand’s research in integrated optics focused on modeling and simulation of dielectric waveguides using finite element simulations, transverse field components, finite volume techniques, and boundary integral methods.
Anand was also instrumental in new device development. His innovations in coupler modulators included ultra-low voltage-lengths, high frequency operation, and synthesized-response modulators. In semiconductor lasers, he developed one of the first transverse injection ridge lasers, worked on high relaxation frequency unstrained lasers in gallium arsenide/aluminum gallium arsenide and demonstrated novel techniques for producing high power, single-spatial-mode vertical cavity surface emitting lasers using external cavities and integrated spatial filters. He also designed high modulation frequency semiconductor optical amplifiers, an active 4X4 switch matrix, and polarization-insensitive semiconductor optical amplifiers in aluminum indium gallium arsenide, using tensile strained quantum wells.
Finally, Anand made significant contributions to MRI technology, optimizing seven Tesla TEM coils for optimal coupling of magnetic fields to the human body while limiting electric fields to ensure patient safety, in addition to developing computational models of multi-coil excitation.
He gave back to the community, with significant service roles in both Optica and IEEE. He was involved with the Integrated Photonics Research Conference since its inception, first as a committee member, then sub-committee chair, and as Conference Co-Chair. He also was a longtime member of the technical program committee for the IEEE International Microwave Symposium. He was an Associate Editor for the IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology and an Associate Editor for IEEE Photonic Technology Letters.
Anand was recognized as a Fellow of Optica, IEEE, and IET. For his work on microstrip transmission lines, he was awarded IEEE MTT Society’s prestigious Microwave Application Award in 2017. Anand contributed to numerous books, including High Speed Electronics and Optoelectronics: Devices and Circuits (2009) and Safety and Biological Effects in MRI (2021).
Anand met his beloved wife, Marian, in England. They married in 1966, and had two daughters, Juliet and Charlotte. He was known for his exceptional intellect, dry sense of humor, love of learning, and conviviality. Anand also went out of his way to support young professionals and investigators, and touched the lives of students, faculty, and people from all walks of life. His thirst for knowledge and sense of adventure took him all over the world. He was keenly interested not only in science, mathematics, and engineering, but also in music, literature, and the arts. He loved classical music and studied cello at the MacPhail Center for the Arts. He was passionate about fitness and constantly searched for new competitive adventures, including playing squash, tennis, speed walking, and hiking and camping in the Colorado Rockies. In the evenings, he could often be found walking his dogs at sunset on the Luce Line Trail as he chatted with Marian.
Anand was preceded in death by his parents, Amba Bai and S. K. Gopinath, and his beloved wife, Marian. He is survived by his children, Juliet (Brian Lay) and Charlotte (Paul Tillberg), four grandchildren—Payal, Evan, Anjali and Kalyani—and his siblings, Vimala Ramakrishnan, Sudhir Gopinath, and Srikanth Gopinath.
Anand approached life with passion, curiosity, and unbounded energy. He inspired everyone around him. He will be remembered for his brilliance, warmth, and joy and will be dearly missed.
Special thanks to the following contributors:
Dr. Jerry Hauser, Dr. Juliet Gopinath, Dr. Charlotte Gopinath, Dr. James Leger, Dr. Rhonda Franklin, Dr. Peter Herczfeld, Dr. Alwyn Seeds, Dr. Can Ugan, Dr. Michael Hill, Dr. Alan Willner