Nikolai Mikhail Stelmakh

Prof. Nikolai Stelmakh, faculty member at the Electrical Engineering Department of the College of Engineering, passed away suddenly at his home on December 8th, 2010 from a heart attack. He was 49 years old.

Dr. Stelmakh was recognized as the world's leading research authority on short-pulse semiconductor lasers, he published over 60 journal and 70 conference papers, and held 8 patents. In 2000, he was a recipient of the Blondel medal of Société des Electriciens et des Radioelectriciens.

Nikolai was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in the family of physicists, and received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Solid-State Physics and Technology from Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute in 1984 and 1989, respectively. In 1990, he joined the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS, France) as a Research Scientist, where he became Director of Research in 2000. He then moved to the U.S., where he co-founded a company Applied WDM, Inc, and served as its VP of Technology. Since 2003, Dr. Stelmakh worked as a faculty member at the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington. He received the Lockheed Martin Outstanding Teaching Award in 2005.

Dr. Stelmakh was a mentor to many students. He will be remembered for his energetic and inspirational teaching style, with extensive hands-on demonstrations and numerous examples drawn from the history of science and engineering.

Nikolai was an avid alpine skier and won numerous competitions in slalom. He was also a soccer enthusiast, who played in UT Arlington's faculty-student soccer league and for Arlington United team. He also loved to play guitar and drums.

He was a devoted husband, father and a wonderful son, survived by his wife Larissa, daughter Veronika, and mother Veronika Sr. The void he leaves behind cannot be put into words.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Nikolai Stelmakh Memorial Fund for Oustanding Student Research Award at

http://www.uta.edu/giving/givenow.php (Please designate "In memory of Nikolai Stelmakh" on the donation form).

Arrangements under the direction of Shannon Rose Hill Funeral Chapel & Cemetery, Fort Worth, TX.