Mr. Nathan Owens

Short Biography

Nathan was born in Buckinghamshire, UK, in 1975. He obtained a BSc in Mechanical

Engineering at Brunel University in 1996 with a second class (upper division) honours and

then went to work as a Draughtsperson and later as a Design Engineer at Wright Machinery

Ltd, South Ruislip, Middlesex, from 1996 to 2002. Responsibilities involved producing

documentation, drawings and finite element analysis for packaging equipment and distribution

systems for the food industry. From 2002 to 2004 he went to work for Imperial Machine

Company, Watford, Hertfordshire, as a Design Engineer. Responsibilities involved research

and development into refrigeration equipment. In 2004 he changed his career path by

studying at the University of Surrey for a BEng in Electronic Engineering and in 2007 obtained

a first class honours with an award from the IET for the best final year project. For the final

year project an investigation was undertaken into the optical control of a ring resonator

produced in silicon. With an insight into the interesting field of silicon photonics, he decided in 2007 to

undertake a PhD with supervision from Graham Reed and Stephen Sweeney into the development of

reflective optical switches.

Research Interests

Nathan’s research interests include silicon photonics, optoelectronics and reflective optical switches.