Dr. Maciej Dems is an Associate Professor at Lodz University of Technology, Poland, where he completed his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Physics in 2002 and 2007, respectively, and earned his habilitation in Physics from the University of Warsaw in 2018. He has led several R&D projects funded by the Polish National Centre for Research and Development and the National Science Centre, resulting in publications in high-impact journals and advancements in photonic device technologies. His research interests include sub-wavelength photonic devices such as photonic crystals, high-contrast gratings, DFB lasers, and micro-structured VCSELs. Dr. Dems has developed numerical methods for analyzing photonic structures and authored PLaSK, a comprehensive software suite for multi-physics photonic simulations. His work has been cited over 1,290 times, reflecting his influence in the field. He also actively contributes to international photonics conferences, advancing applications in telecommunications, sensing, and related fields.