About me

Electrical Engineer by education, Scientist at heart. I am a curious and communicative individual, driven to acquire further theoretical and practical knowledge in the field of Integrated Photonics.

P.S. I love coding! 💻

🎓 Education

PhD in Physics | Complutense University of Madrid (2024 - present)
M.S. in Photonics | Polytechnic University of Catalonia (2024)
B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering | University of Belgrade (2023)

👩🏻‍🔬 My PhD journey

Pre-doctoral Researcher @ Optics Institute “Daza de Valdés” (CSIC) (December 2024 - Present) founded by the Momentum program

📍I am currently doing my research secondment at the University of Malaga!

• Optics Institute “Daza de Valdés” (CSIC)
  In December of 2024, I started my PhD research journey on the topic of “Integrated Photonic Sensors Powered by Artificial Intelligence and Nanostructured Metamaterials” (“Sensores fotónicos integrados en chip potenciados mediante inteligencia artificial y metamateriales nanoestructurados”). The first two months, I received training in “Introduction to Nano-Structured Devices in Waveguides” and spent time learning about the fundamentals of Integrated Photonics.
  

• 📍 University of Malaga
  In February of 2025, I started my two-month research secondment at the University of Malaga at the Photonics & RF Research Lab where I am receiving theoretical training, learning how to use Fexen and Lumerical software for PIC design and simulation, as well as working in the lab with the optical setup for characterization of silicon photonic chips.
  

💻Work Experience

Master’s student intern @ ICFO (Feb 2024 - Jul 2024)
I worked on my Master’s thesis project with the title “Control of the propagation direction of Bound States in the continuum (BICs) in liquid crystal waveguides”.

This was my first opportunity to work on a big research project in the field of Photonics. I enjoyed learning about optical waveguides, sensors and getting to know the optical setup I was working on, which inspired my next career steps.

Co-founder & Embedded Automation Engineer @ Haptic Synaptic (Oct 2021 - Oct 2023)
I came up with an idea for a robotics project called “Robot that makes friendship bracelets” that would inspire girls to get interested in technology (2018). I made a prototype, co-founded a start-up (2021), and received initial funding to build an educational robotics kit.

This was my passion project for five and a half years. I learned so much about engineering, business and team work. It gave me so many opportunities to travel, collaborate with professionals and put smiles on kids’ faces. My personal growth on this journey is something priceless that I will always carry with me.

🏆 Awards

• Innovation patent granted (2018 – 2024)
  The Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Serbia
  

• Gold medal at Tesla Fest 2019
  International Festival of Innovation, Knowledge and Creativity, WIPO
  

• WSA European Young Innovators Award 2021
  World Summit Award (Graz, Austria)
  

🎉 Exhibitions

• Maker Faire Rome 2023
• Virtually Maker Faire 2020
• Maker Faire Vienna 2019

🚀 Grants

• The Mini Grants program 2021
  Serbian Innovation Fund (as GirlBot)
  

• Part of The Startech program 2021
  The Government of the Republic of Serbia
  

• MTS start-up grant & Google accelerator program 2021
  Startit & Telekom Serbia
  

Embedded Automation Engineer Intern @ Easy Aerial (Aug 2022 - Sept 2022)

• I developed an automated system for testing new electronic components used in drones.

Hardware Design Intern @ MikroElektronika (Jul 2021 - Sept 2021)

• I challenged my knowledge and skills by working on projects in Altium Designer and C.

📖 Publications

• TMF: Control of the propagation direction of Bound States in the continuum (BICs) in liquid crystal waveguides
  Stolic, Irena; Artigas García, David; Baral, Marlin; Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña. Departamento de Teoría de Señales y Comunicaciones
  2024-07-23
  URI: https://upcommons.upc.edu/handle/2117/423579
  

Technical Skills

Languages	Matlab, Python
Software	Lumerical, FEXEN, Labview, Matlab, Arduino, Altium Designer
Environments	Office

🌍Languages

• Serbian (native)
• English (C1) - IELTS
• Spanish (B1)
• German (B1) - onSET-Zertifikat
• Hungarian (A2)

Contact

✉️ email: irena.stolic@csic.es
🔗 LinkedIn: Irena Stolic