When Aaron Dodell (Physics, ’98; M.S. Materials Engineering, ‘00) picked up a recent 2025 Bailey College Undergraduate Research magazine, a blurb about the Physics Department starting a laser lab caught his eye. As a laser engineer at General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems Group (GA-EMS), where he has worked for 23 years, Dodell knew that he was in a position to help his alma mater get the lab off the ground.

“I read this little blurb that Dr. Isinsu Toker had won a $20,000 grant to start a laser lab,” Dodell said. “I remember during my time, there really weren't any professors in that field. We had some equipment, but nobody knew what it was. I played with it once, and we couldn't do anything.“

As part of his role at General Atomics, a defense and diversified technologies company, Dodell helps manage several laser labs and often has surplus parts that are no longer needed. After reading the article and checking with his supervisor, he decided to reach out to Toker and put some of the parts sitting in cabinets to good use.

“Dr. Toker gave me a list of equipment that she wanted, and I ended up shipping her a bunch of things that I thought could be useful,” he said. “Then I started discussing laser safety with her — you need glasses, you need warning lights, you need curtains — so I personally bought some laser safety equipment.”

That support helped students in the Physics Department’s new Photon Lab in the William and Linda Frost Center for Research and Innovation accomplish something unprecedented at Cal Poly: building a state-of-the-art femtosecond solid-state scientific laser from scratch.

Dodell grew up in Los Angeles and transferred to Cal Poly from El Camino College. While he was initially planning on becoming an astronomer, a 1997 summer internship at Spectra Physics Lasers where he learned to build lasers helped change the focus of his studies and set him on a new path.

"That was really fun and hands-on,” he said. “The first laser I built was meant for laser light shows. You have a prism, and it spreads out different colors, and the operator would tune and change it. I thought that was so cool.”

At the time, however, the Physics Department didn’t offer many classes or have much equipment in this field to help him pursue his passion. When a physics graduate told him about the practical, hands-on aspects of Cal Poly's materials engineering master's program, he decided to pursue that degree after earning his bachelor's degree. Later, when he began working at GA-EMS, he realized the practical experience he gained from both programs had prepared him well for his role.

“When I first started working at GA-EMS, we were using lasers to drill really, really tiny holes into things like steel, aluminum, copper and glass, and then we would go and post-process them,” he said. “That's all the stuff I did at Cal Poly. So, I was using both my physics and laser background and my materials engineering background, and I was really enjoying what I was doing.”

Dodell credits Cal Poly’s Learn by Doing education with preparing him for his career and believes that same hands-on approach continues to benefit students and employers today.

“For me, being hands-on clicked immediately,” he said. “Like a lot of kids back in the day building with Legos, putting things together really synced with me. A lot of companies, General Atomics included, have a big recruiting push through Cal Poly because the students can jump into a lab right away and start doing stuff, putting things together and testing them.”

Dodell was motivated in part to give back because of fond memories from his undergraduate years. He still remembers the camaraderie of the Physics Department, with students and faculty gathering for potluck meals and spending time together in a department lounge nicknamed the “H Bar Lounge and Grill.”

“Teachers would come in, and you'd talk to them,” he said. “It was fun and cool that professors and students were intermingling like that, with everybody having a good time. I thought that was always a very positive thing, and it was good to have that community. There's still a Cal Poly Physics Fantasy Football League that I’ve been a part of for years with my former professors and classmates.”

Dodell hopes the story of how he became involved with the Cal Poly laser lab will inspire other alumni to consider how they can give back, whether through in-kind equipment donations or more traditional forms of support.

“Get involved and have that dialogue with a professor to find out what they need,” he said.

 

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