John "Gus" Gurley (48/50)
CCS was honored to showcase 50 individuals and activities during our 50th Anniversary in 2017-2018 to share our rich history. Take a look at the amazing people responsible for making our unconventional College possible!
John “Gus” Gurley is considered one of the world's leading authorities on scanning probe control systems with educational roots at UCSB. Gurley graduated from CCS with a degree in Physics (1978), followed by a Master’s in Scientific Instrumentation (1983) from UCSB. After UCSB, Gurley joined Link Flight Simulators where he designed flight simulators.
Then in I978, Gurley’s radially curious nature led him to become an entrepreneur, co-founding Digital Instruments (DI) along with former UCSB Physics Professor Virgil Elings. Based in Santa Barbara, DI pioneered scanning probe microscopes (SPMs) to make them readily available to scientists and engineers, allowing objects to be magnified 10–20 million times and enabling scientists to view materials at the atomic level. The same year as the company was launched, DI delivered its first Nanoscope unit, the first commercially successful scanning tunneling microscope designed by Gurley. The company received numerous awards for business and engineering excellence, including 3 Photonics Circle of Excellence awards and new product awards from the Society of Professional Engineers. Gurley was responsible for new product development at DI and other key roles, and in 1998 DI merged with Veeco Instruments focused on instrumentation for the research, semiconductor, data storage, telecommunications and other industries.
After retiring from Digital Instruments/Veeco, Gus has explored interests in systems level neuroscience and neural networking with the goal to develop a neural simulator, a digital-based device.
Gurley has generously supported the UCSB community as a member of the Director’s Council at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) and by serving, since 2017, as a Trustee of the UC Santa Barbara Foundation. Due to Gurley’s philanthropic generosity, in 2004, he along with his wife Meg funded Distinguished Fellows in Biophysics, a three-year effort at KITP that was designed to attract and enable distinguished scientists to come for sustained visits and participation at the Institute; supported a UCSB lecture series in neuroscience; and in 2009, endowed the Susan F. Gurley Chair in Theoretical Physics and Biology at KITP that honors the entrepreneur’s mother.
Gurley was appointed a KITP Senior Fellow in 2007 for his role in helping to establish the new field of theoretical biology at KITP. UCSB Chancellor Henry Yang emphasized Gurley’s contribution: "The Susan F. Gurley Chair will strengthen our tradition of excellence and will advance our research leadership in the field of theoretical biology. This special endowment enhances the stature of our campus and will help us continue to attract and retain top faculty and advance the frontiers of this important field.”
Gurley received the Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Award in 2012 and the CCS Notable Alumni Award in 2015.
This story was adapted from various sources:
https://www.kitp.ucsb.edu/directors-council-members/gus-gurley