With an extensive academic and industry background in light-matter interactions, semiconductor devices, and chemical, biological, and radiological sensors, Girija Gaur, Ph.D. focuses her practice on intellectual property (IP) matters involving patent portfolio development, patent prosecution, and patent litigation in these fields. She has served as the elected chair of the Photonic Detection and Bio-Nano Optics technical groups at Optica.
While in law school, Girija worked in UCI Law’s Startup and Small Business Clinic where she counseled startup founders and in the Domestic Violence Clinic where she assisted victims of abuse. She served as a judicial extern to Judge Sheri Bluebond of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California. Girija also served as vice president of the Intellectual Property Law Society, co-president of It Takes a Village, and student representative of the South Asian Bar Association of Southern California.
Prior to law school, Girija worked for a LiDAR startup as a project manager and patent officer and in the IP practice group of two law firms as a technical specialist assisting attorneys with patent prosecution and patent litigation matters involving complex technologies. She also previously worked as a printed circuit board design engineer and interned at Seagate Technologies in its Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording group.
Girija has co-authored several publications related to quantum dots and silicon photonic devices, presented her research at technical conferences, and co-organized and moderated the Machine Learning, AI, and Nanophotonic Synergies in Advanced Bioimaging panel at the 2022 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics.
She is also credited as an inventor for US Patent No. 11,688,068.
Member, American Bar Association
Member, ChIPs
Member, Optica