PRESS RELEASE

09 March 2023

Contact:

Steve Yao                                                                   

Photonics Society of Chinese Heritage (PSC)

(909) 890-6016

syao@ieee.org

Photonics Society of Chinese Heritage announces two winners of the Tingye Li Memorial Scholarship Award

OFC, March 7, 2023 The Photonics Society of Chinese Heritage (PSC), a non-profit organization for promoting professional exchange among scientists and engineers of Chinese heritage in the field of photonics, is proud to announce the winners of the third annual Tingye Li Memorial Scholarship Award: Mr. Huibin Zhou, a Ph.D. student from University of Southern California (USC) and Mr. Peizhen Xu, a Ph.D. student from Zhejiang University (China),

Mr. Zhou was nominated by Prof. Alan Willner for his excellent contributions to free space communications and Mr. Xu was nominated for his breakthrough research achievement on elastic ice microfibers by Prof. Limin Tong.

Ten finalists nominated by invited professors in top photonics-related programs around the world were presented to the Scholarship Review Committee and the winners were finally selected by the committee based on their scores of academic achievements (70%) and community services (30%).  The Scholarship Review  Committee is comprised of renowned scientists and business leaders in the field, including Prof. John Bowers (UCSB), Prof. Guifang Li (UCF), Prof. Alan Willner (USC), Dr. Xiang Zhou (Google), Dr. Rang-chen (Ryan) Yu (PSC), Dr. Steve Yao (PSC)  and Dr. Samuel Liu (PSC 2023 Scholarship Review Committee chair)

“The impact of Tingye Li on laser science and optical fiber communications can be seen in the science and the people. Optica is grateful to PSC for supporting the next generation of leaders in the field with the PSC Tingye Li scholarship.  It’s a fitting tribute to a great mentor whom we also honor with Optica’s Li Innovation Prize,” said P. Scott Carney, Optica’s Chief Science and Technology Officer.

Karen Liu, the president of PSC, noted: “This scholarship honors the example Tingye Li set as a brilliant scientist who always took the time to connect to people as well. He is remembered with lasting gratitude for his mentorship. On behalf of PSC, I would like to congratulate the two winners who not only performed breakthrough research as graduate students but supported the communal aspects of scientific discourse through journal reviews, inter-institutional collaborations and professional society participation. Based on the record number of applicants this year from around the world, all of which are highly accomplished, we can say the future of photonics is in good hands! PSC also these outstanding young scholars who made the finalist list in a very competitive field.”

Finalists of the Tingye Li Scholarship Nominees

Finalist name	School name	Nominating professor
Yujian Li	The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, HK, China	Changyuan Yu
Changhao Han	Peking University, China	Xingjun Wang
Yuan Liu	Nanjing University, China	Xiangfei Chen
Joel Guo	University of California, Santa Barbara, US	John Bowers
Lei Fu	University of California, San Diego, US	Jesse V. Jokerst
Hao Zhang	University of Victoria, Canada	Reuven Gordon
Marco Andre Taveres Fernandes	University of Aveiro, Portugal	Fernando Pedro Pereira Guiomar
Qigejian Wang	The University of New South Wales, Australia	Shaghik Atakaramians

 

More about the Tingyi Li Memorial Scholarship Award

Dr. Tingye Li (7/7/1931-12/27/2012) was a renowned Chinese American scientist in photonics. His innovative work at AT&T Bell Labs pioneered the research and application of lightwave communication and has had a far-reaching impact on information technology for over four decades.  

The scholarship was established in late 2019 to be awarded annually to honor Dr. Tingye Li for his outstanding contributions in the field of photonics, and to emulate his selfless mentoring of young scientists and his outstanding services to the photonics community. The number of winners is capped at two each year. The scholarship committee, appointed by the PSC Board of Directors, is responsible for fundraising the award and overseeing the selection process. The committee is currently chaired by Dr. Samuel Li, with Drs. Steve Yao and Rang-chen Ryan Yu as its members.  The scholarship award consists of an award trophy with an achievement citation and an award check of $2000, which may vary from year to year. The recipients will also receive a special recognition during the annual meeting.

More about Photonics Society of Chinese Heritage (PSC)

PSC is a non-profit organization founded in 1984 by a group of scientists and engineers of Chinese Heritage in the city of Los Angeles, with objectives to promote friendship and collaboration through increased opportunities for business contact and technical exchanges among engineers and scientists of Chinese heritage in the field of photonics.  PSC welcomes all individuals and organizations interested in participating in its activities.  PSC activities include technical seminars on new progress and marketing directions, dinner meetings during major international conferences such as OFC/NFOEC, Photonics West, and CLEO/IQEC. More information on both PSC and the Tingyi Li Memorial Scholarship can be found at the PSC website: www.psc-sc.org.

PSC greatly appreciates the generous donations of the following sponsors: Accelight, AdTech Optics, AFR, Auxora/TFC, Bandweaver, Broadex, Emcore, Enablence, Eoptolink, Fastrain, GoFoton,  HGTech, Hisense, Hitronics, Hytera, Coherent, InnoLight, Inphi/Marvell, Innovation Investment, Innolight, InSiGa, JPC, Litecore, Molex, MRSI Mycronics, NeuSemi, NuVision Photonics, O-net, OZ Optics, QPC Lasers, River Publishing, San-U Optronics, SiPhotonics, Source Photonics, Vlink, Yuanjie Semiconductor.