John Bowers Wins Tyndall Award

WASHINGTON -- The Optical Society (OSA) and the IEEE Photonics Society are pleased to announce that John Bowers, Fred Kavil Chair in Nanotechnology and director of the Institute for Energy Efficiency at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is the recipient of the 2012 John Tyndall Award. Bowers is being recognized for "pioneering research in hybrid-silicon lasers and photonic integrated circuits."

Bowers, who is also a professor in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Materials at UC Santa Barbara, received his M.S. and Ph.D. from Stanford University and worked for AT&T Bell Laboratories and Honeywell before joining UC Santa Barbara in 1987. Bowers has made numerous contributions to the field of optical communications – including more than 450 published journal articles, eight book chapters, 700 conference papers and 52 patents – and has been recognized for this work throughout the course of his career. Bowers is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of IEEE, OSA, and the American Physical Society. He is a recipient of the OSA Holonyak Prize, the IEEE Photonics Society William Strifer Award, and the South Coast Business and Technology Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

The Tyndall Award recognizes Bowers' international leadership in the development of novel optoelectronic devices, including groundbreaking research in hybrid-silicon lasers and photonic integrated circuits. This hybrid technology lowers the costs of photonic sub-systems and allows optical communication technology to be applied to areas where it has been prohibitively expensive.

"John has been an active leader in the research and application of optical communications," said OSA CEO Elizabeth Rogan. "His work on hybrid-silicon lasers and computer circuitry sets the stage for the next generation of optoelectronic devices and paves the way for faster, more efficient optical communications technology."

IEEE Photonics Society