HMC Expert: Richard Haskell
Biomedical Optics, Biophysics, Laser Physics, Physics, Quantum Optics

Richard Haskell
Richard Haskell, PhD, Burton G. Bettingen Professor of Physics, specializes in biophysics and biomedical optics with a focus on using lasers to assess the health of living tissue and to engineer artificial tissues.
He has designed and built two optical coherence microscopes that image tissue non-invasively and non-destructively and have been used to follow the early development of the frog embryo. He is also using the microscopes to aid in the development of an artificial human cornea replacement. He devoted six years to laser light-scattering studies of skeletal muscle in the Biophysics Department at The Johns Hopkins University. While at Harvey Mudd College, he worked with the Beckman Laser Institute to use lasers to find cancers in the breast and to measure the amount of oxygen in the blood. He is a member of SPIE, the American Physical Society, the Biophysical Society and the Optical Society of America.
Haskell also directs Harvey Mudd College’s Center for Environmental Studies, which coordinates interdepartmental programs related to environmental studies and promotes the important roles that science, mathematics, and engineering play in addressing environmental issues and sustainability.
Media Contact
Judy Augsburger
Media Appearances
- Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, 8/16/17 Claremont Optometry Giving Away 500 Pairs of Eclipse Glasses
- Claremont Courier, 6/18/15 Water-wise expo offers torrent of sustainable ideas
- The Student Life, 10/10/14 Water in the City of Trees and PhDs: As Wells Dry, Conservation Ideas Flow
- hmc.edu, 2/12/13 Undergraduate Research Spurs Grant for Water Recycling Study