Cornell leads $7.5m project on visual computing with light

Cornell University is leading a $7.5m research programme to investigate how nanophotonic structures could process visual information before it reaches conventional electronic computing hardware.

The US Department of Defense Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative, called Deep Nanophotonic Inference Systems, is led by electrical and computer engineering professor Francesco Monticone.

The programme will examine the physical and information limits of nanophotonic systems, develop faster simulation and inverse design methods, and investigate fabrication of three-dimensional optical structures. A further strand will optimise optical hardware and digital algorithms together.

The researchers will use the findings to design, fabricate and test experimental photonic inference systems.

Some platforms under investigation use metamaterials, engineered structures that control light in ways unavailable from their constituent materials alone.

Co-principal investigators come from Stanford University, the University of Pennsylvania, Vanderbilt University and MIT. Researchers at Sorbonne University and Lund University are international collaborators. <p><a href="https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2026/10/75m-grant-establish-foundations-visual-computing-light">Cornell project announcement</a>.</p>