Charles Dove

Charles Dove uses artificial intelligence (AI) to harness the physics of light.

A PhD student in electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, Charles uses principles from machine learning and differentiable programming to create new methods for the simulation and fully automatic design of light-based technology. This capability would enable significant growth in the scale, scope, and capabilities of nearly all light-based technology, including biomedical imaging, cellular manipulation and characterization, optical telecommunications, photonic quantum computing, and LIDAR.

A researcher in AI since his freshman year at Clemson University, Charles is the inventor of multiple technologies that combine electromagnetic wave physics and machine learning. His method for the efficient recovery of blood-flow information from scattered laser light is currently being evaluated for potential use in optometry and brain surgery, and his method for 3D artificial vision through multi-frequency scattering offers a promising and practical alternative to conventional LIDAR.

Charles founded two scientific student programs as an undergraduate, leading over 70 college students in long-term, faculty-advised research projects, including three research satellites launched through NASA and an accelerator-type nuclear fusion device.

A passionate educator, Charles has also created and led scientific outreach programs for underrepresented children and young adults. With the goal of showing participants the “beauty and excitement of science and technology,” his programs engage students in hands-on, project-based STEM learning.

Charles grew up in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Clemson, South Carolina. A passionate jazz pianist, he enjoys long hiking trips and reading, particularly science fiction. He received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 2020.