Optomechanics Researcher Joins Mechanical Engineering
The Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stony Brook University welcomes Pofessor Ryan Schilling, who joined the department as a Research Assistant Professor in September 2026. His research connects mechanics, photonics, and quantum engineering, exploring how
tiny vibrating structures lose energy and how their stress, geometry, and materials
can be engineered to reduce those losses.
Trained as an electrical engineer, Schilling develops nanomechanical resonators—tiny structures that sustain vibrations with very little energy loss—and combines them with optical circuits on a chip. These systems aim to push precision measurement toward its fundamental limits, with applications in sensing small forces and transferring information between photons (quanta of light) and phonons (quanta of mechanical vibration).
“The department is really fortunate to have Ryan on board. We have a storied history in optics and optomechanics dating back to the work of Fu-Pen Chiang and his collaborators. Ryan points us to a new era with new frontiers in the modern version of the discipline,” said P. Scott Carney, Chair of Mechanical Engineering.
Schilling earned his PhD in Electrical Engineering from EPFL in 2018, where his research helped establish methods for using strain to reduce energy loss in nanomechanical resonators. He also holds an MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Toronto and a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of British Columbia.
After his doctorate, Schilling worked at IBM’s T. J. Watson Research Center on integrated photonics for converting quantum signals between microwave and optical frequencies. He later joined Corning as a Senior Scientist, focusing on co-packaged optics and methods for coupling light between optical fibers and silicon photonic chips.
“What drew me to Stony Brook is that many of the questions I care about are mechanical at their core. Making a resonator that stores energy longer begins with stress, geometry, and material damping before it becomes a quantum-optics problem. That means our students can enter quantum-limited measurement through the tools of mechanical engineering, and I’m excited to build that bridge with them.”