2022 Award Honorees

2022 IEEE Photonics Society Award Recipients

IEEE Photonics Society Awards recognize the outstanding achievements and accomplishments of members and individuals from the photonics community-at-large who advance technology in the Society’s fields of interest. The Awards rely on the expertise and support of members, volunteers, and nominators to ensure colleagues’ achievements and technological advancements are honored. 

The IEEE Photonics Society is pleased to announce the recipients
of the 2022 Photonics Society Awards.

IEEE Photonics Award

Professor Rodney S. Tucker, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Rodney Tucker is a Laureate Emeritus Professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Melbourne. He has previously held positions at the Plessey Company, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Hewlett Packard Laboratories, and Agilent Technologies. He received the BE (Elec) degree from the University of Melbourne in 1969, and the PhD degree, also, from the University of Melbourne, in 1975. He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE and a Fellow of the Optical Society of America, the Australian Academy of Science, and the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for his contributions to Industry and Education.

Laser Instrumentation Award*

Prof. Franz Kaertner, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron – DESY, Germany

Franz Kärtner heads the Ultrafast Optics and X-rays Group at the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science at DESY and is a Professor of Physics at Universität Hamburg. He co-founded Cycle GmbH pioneering femtosecond level timing and synchronization of large-scale infrastructures. He is a fellow of OSA and IEEE.

Quantum Electronics Award*

Dr. Frederick Kish, North Carolina State University, USA

Fred A. Kish, Jr. is the M.C. Dean Distinguished Professor in Electrical Engineering at NC State University. From 2001-2019, he was Senior Vice President of the Photonic IC Group at Infinera Corporation where he co-invented and led the effort to develop and commercialize five generations of leading photonic IC solutions.

Technical Skills Educator Award

Prof. Stephen Kichinda, African eDevelopment Resource Center, Kenya

Stephen Kichinda is a Consultant and Fiber Optic Association Certified Instructor with African eDevelopment Resource Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. He graduated from Kenya College of Communication Technology (the only telecommunication training institution in East-Africa then, today Multimedia University of Kenya) in 1983. He has over 40-years of experience in Telecoms Industry.

Young Investigator Award*

Prof. Deep Jariwala, University of Pennsylvania, USA

Deep Jariwala is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). Deep received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University and was a postdoctoral fellow at Caltech before joining Penn. His research interests are new materials and solid-state devices for computing and opto-electronics.

William Streifer Scientific Achievement Award*

Dr. John Ballato, Clemson University, USA

John Ballato is a professor of materials science and engineering at Clemson University, where he also holds the Sirrine Endowed Chair in Optical Fiber. He has published over 500 technical papers and is a Fellow of the IEEE, AAAS, APS, OSA, SPIE, ACerS, and the National Academy of Inventors.

Aron Kressel Award

Dr. Shouleh Nikzad, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA

Shouleh Nikzad is a JPL Fellow, Senior Research Scientist, a Principal Engineer, and the Science Division Manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. Shouleh has over 200 publications and over 20 patents. She holds a PhD in Applied Physics and an MSEE both from Caltech and BSEE from USC.

Engineering Achievement Award

Professor Ulrich L. Rohde, Synergy Microwave Corporation, USA; Rohde & Schwarz, Munich, Germany

Prof. Dr. Ing. habil Ulrich L. Rohde is a Partner of Rohde & Schwarz, Munich Germany, Chairman of Synergy Microwave Corp., Paterson, New Jersey. Rohde has published 350+ scientific papers, co-authored over a dozen books, and holds dozens of patents. Dr. Ulrich Rohde is the recipient of the “2021 Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, also known as the Federal Cross of Merit, is the highest tribute the Federal Republic of Germany can pay to individuals for services to the nation.

* Recipient will be presenting at IPC 2022!