Maite Flores, Professor of Optics and iMATUS researcher, has been awarded the highest recognition by the European Optical Society (EOS). Founded in 1991, the EOS is the leading platform for European professionals dedicated to optics and photonics, acting as an umbrella organization for all European national societies. Its mission not only encompasses uniting and promoting cooperation between institutions in the sector, but also channeling the use and application of cutting-edge research results, supporting industry by transferring these results for exploitation. This non-profit organization plays a fundamental role in defining and shaping research policy in Europe and has awarded Dr. Flores the EOS Fellowship. This highly prestigious distinction, achieved by only ten women to date, is awarded to less than 2% of researchers in the field of optics and photonics internationally.
The award recognizes Dr. Flores’s outstanding career, her research, and her contribution to scientific advances, as well as her service to the scientific community. Maite Flores has focused her activity in areas such as diffractive optics, optoelectronics, and micro-optics. She is the author of more than 200 articles in top-tier scientific journals, and her work has been presented at more than 40 international conferences.
In addition to her academic work, she is a staunch advocate for knowledge transfer to industry. In 2020, she founded Bflow, a company dedicated to organ-on-a-chip manufacturing using laser technology, with the goal of reducing animal testing.
This recognition adds to other important distinctions in her career, such as the American Optical Society award that named her a Senior Fellow in 2021. It also highlights her commitment to female leadership in science, having been the first woman to chair the Spanish Optoelectronics Committee and vice president of the Spanish Optical Society. She is currently vice president of the Interuniversity Commission of Galicia.