Title: Optics and Photonics; Essential Technologies for our World

Abstract: Optics and photonics enable a multitude of technologies that people use daily and have transformed the way society functions. As one example, the Internet we know today would not exist without optics and photonics, and numerous medical, manufacturing, and defense technologies are critically enabled by optics and photonics. This talk will highlight some of the exciting developments on the national and international stage that show the growing relevance of optics and photonics and that portend the expanding importance of our field in the future.

Bio: Alan Willner worked at AT&T Bell Labs and Bellcore, and he is currently the Steven and Kathryn Sample Chair in Engineering at the Univ. of Southern California. He has received the International Fellow of the U.K. Royal Academy of Engineering; Presidential Faculty Fellows Award from the White House; IEEE Sumner Award; Guggenheim, Packard, and Fulbright Foundation Fellowships; OSA Forman Engineering Excellence Award; IEEE Photonics Society Engineering Achievement Award; SPIE President's Award; IEEE Globecom Best Paper Award; Eddy Best Contributed Technical Paper Award from Pennwell; and Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He is a Fellow of the AAAS, IEEE, OSA, and SPIE. Prof. Willner has been Co-Chair of the U.S. National Academies’ Study on Optics and Photonics; President-Elect of OSA; President of IEEE Photonics Society; Chair of National Photonics Initiative; Editor-in-Chief of Optics Letters and Journal of Lightwave Technology; and Member of U.S. Army Science Board.