Pegah Safavi has been awarded a 2025 Optics and Photonics Scholarship by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, for potential contributions to optics, photonics, or a related field.

Safavi is a PhD candidate in biomedical engineering at the University of Kentucky (USA), conducting research under the mentorship of Dr. Guoqiang Yu. Safavi develops wearable, fiber-free optical sensors for continuous monitoring of cerebral hemodynamics. Her work integrates optical imaging, signal processing, and translational neuroscience to study cerebral hemodynamics in models of aging, Alzheimer’s disease, and brain injury. Safavi has received multiple honors for academic excellence, scientific communication, and leadership: most notably, she is an inaugural recipient of the Lighthouse Beacon Foundation Graduate Fellowship. Safavi aims to bridge the gap between research innovations and real-world clinical impact.

Click here for more