2017 Ambassador Michelle Sander is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Boston University, U.S. and an affiliated faculty with the Materials Science and Engineering Division. She is a member of the BU Photonics Center and the BU-BUMC Cancer Center.

She received her PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Optics and Quantum Electronics Group. Previously, she received a German Diploma degree in Electrical Engineering From the TU Braunschweig and a Master of Science degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her research interest include the development of compact novel ultrafast fiber lasers and applications to vibrational spectroscopy and biomedical imaging.

Sander has been an active member of the Society for many years. She is passionate about promoting diversity within science and engineering and has been invested in encouraging female students to pursue careers in STEM fields. She launched a Women in Photonics Networking Series for the larger Boston area in 2015 that provides networking and professional development opportunities across all ranks of professional experience and between academia and industry.