# Robert Devlin

> Robert Devlin, known professionally as Rob Devlin, is the co-founder and CEO of Metalenz. Trained in electrical engineering and materials science at Drexel and applied physics at Harvard, he helped develop efficient visible-light metasurfaces in Federico Capasso’s laboratory and has led their commercialization through semiconductor manufacturing partnerships. His work now includes polarization-based imaging and face authentication.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Metalenz
- **Organizations:** Metalenz, Harvard University Capasso Group
- **Education:** BS in electrical and computer engineering; MS in materials science and engineering, Drexel University, PhD in applied physics, Federico Capasso laboratory, Harvard University
- **Known for:** Co-author of the 2016 Science metalens paper, featured on the journal’s cover; the research was recognized among Science’s ten breakthroughs that year., First author of the 2016 PNAS paper on broadband high-efficiency dielectric metasurfaces for the visible spectrum., Author or co-author of more than 20 publications, according to Metalenz’s leadership biography.

## Career timeline

- **Childhood** — Built shortwave radios with his grandfather, a former Navy radio operator.
- **2013** — Graduated from Drexel with BS and MS degrees; gained research experience through a co-op in Steve May’s group.
- **2016** — Co-authored the Science paper demonstrating efficient visible-wavelength metalenses; co-founded Metalenz with Federico Capasso and Bart Riley.
- **2017** — Completed his Harvard doctorate in applied physics.
- **2021** — Metalenz announced its STMicroelectronics partnership to manufacture metasurface optics.
- **2022** — Metalenz metasurfaces debuted commercially in STMicroelectronics time-of-flight sensing; the company announced a $30 million Series B in October.
- **2023** — Metalenz announced an open-market manufacturing supply chain with UMC.
- **2025** — Received Optica’s Kevin P. Thompson Optical Design Innovator Award; Metalenz expanded its ST licensing agreement and announced Polar ID mass-production readiness with UMC.
- **2026** — Metalenz announced Polar 3D in February and Polar ID Under Display in May.

## Achievements

- Co-author of the 2016 Science metalens paper, featured on the journal’s cover; the research was recognized among Science’s ten breakthroughs that year.
- First author of the 2016 PNAS paper on broadband high-efficiency dielectric metasurfaces for the visible spectrum.
- Author or co-author of more than 20 publications, according to Metalenz’s leadership biography.
- 2025 recipient of Optica’s Kevin P. Thompson Optical Design Innovator Award.
- Led Metalenz commercialization through STMicroelectronics and UMC semiconductor manufacturing partnerships.

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — Metalenz’s events page lists Devlin as a presenter in the commercialization session at META 2026 in Dublin, July 14-17.
- **2026-05** — Metalenz announced Polar ID Under Display and a demonstration beneath a powered OLED smartphone screen at Display Week.
- **2026-04** — Appeared on the 632nm podcast to discuss metasurface manufacturing and polarization-based face authentication.
- **2026-02** — Metalenz announced Polar 3D for single-image facial shape and reflection capture, relightable selfies and avatars.
- **2025-11** — Metalenz and UMC announced Polar ID readiness for high-volume manufacturing using 300 mm wafers, a 40 nm process and wafer-on-wafer bonding.

## Links

- Website: https://metalenz.com/leadership/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-devlin-5483a859/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/robert-devlin
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-13