Dr. Dennis K. Killinger, Ph.D. is a USF Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Physics, past Director of the Lidar Remote Sensing Laboratory, and currently a Professor in the USF Institute for Advanced Discovery and Innovation. Prior to joining USF in 1987, he was a research physicist for 10 years at MIT Lincoln Laboratory and earlier at the Ford Scientific Research Lab in Dearborn. Killinger’s research focuses on the development of new precision wavelength tunable lasers, high-resolution laser spectroscopy of atmospheric pollutants, and the application and use of lasers as ultra-sensitive probes of the environment. He was an early pioneer in laser radar/Lidar and laser remote sensing of the atmosphere and has been involved with the invention and development of close to 20 new high-resolution tunable lasers at different wavelengths, utilizing new spectroscopic techniques, and their application for remote sensing of atmospheric gases and trace species in water. He and his group are responsible for some of the major advances of this field, including the first laser remote sensing and mapping of methane, CO, NO, and ammonia in the atmosphere, the detection of trace plastics (BPA) and organics leached into drinking water and the ocean, remote laser-induced-breakdown spectroscopy and detection of explosives, laser detection and mapping of glaucoma of the retina, and laser telecommunication using reflected lidar beams from cars, clouds and the air itself. His research included the development of a new tunable IR laser that proved to be ideal for detecting and mapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and is now used by NASA and NOAA for global CO2 measurements. His group also established at USF the first vehicle traffic laser radar testing laboratory in Florida, and developed and commercialized the HITRAN-PC © software program used world-wide for spectroscopic analysis of lidar and laser beam transmission through the atmosphere.

His honors and awards include receiving the Governor’s Outstanding Scientist Award, Outstanding Faculty Research Award, and Professorial Excellence Award. In addition to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), he is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America (OSA), Photonics Society (SPIE), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), National Academy of Inventors (NAI); and the Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine of Florida (ASEMFL). He has served as Associate Editor for Optics Letters and Applied Optics, has over a hundred publications, eight patents, and has written the chapter on “Atmospheric Optics” for the Handbook of Optics, and the “History of Laser Radar and Lidar”. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, M.S. from DePauw University, and B.A. from the University of Iowa. In addition, he is actively involved in the use of optics and photonics, and has given many short courses for SPIE and OSA on “Laser Remote Sensing” and "Lidar Spectral Sensors". He has been conference chair of over 15 conferences, and was General Conference Co-Chair of the CLEO Conference on Lasers and Electro Optics. Recently, Dr. Killinger served as a member of the National Academies panel that reviewed all Physics programs at the Army Research Development and Engineering Centers, and also served on the AOART (Active Optical Assessment and Recommendation Team) for NASA headquarters that reviewed and assessed all active optical sensing and lidar programs within NASA. He also served as a Co-Guest Editor for a special issue on Laser Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere for the journal Remote Sensing (2018), and was the co-chair of the OPTICA/OSA conference on Optics and Photonics for Sensing the Environment in 2019 and 2020.