2025 PSC Tingye Li Memorial Scholarship Announcement
Background
Dr. Tingye Li (July 7, 1931- December 27, 2012) was an outstanding Chinese American scientist in the field of microwaves, lasers, and optical communications. 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. He was a member of National Academy of Engineering (1980), Chinese Academy of Engineering (1980), and Academia Sinica (1994). He was the recipient of numerals awards, including the IEEE Baker Prize (1975), IEEE David Sarnoff Award (1979), OSA/IEEE John Tyndall Award (1995), AT&T Science and Technology Medal (1997), IEEE Photonics Award (2004), IEEE Edison Medal (2009), OSA Frederic Ives Medal (1997), and last but not the least the PSC Achievement Award from the Photonics Society of Chinese-Americans (1998).
Dr. Li was not only a brilliant scientist in the field of optics and photonics, but also a great mentor who nurtured young scientists to grow. The Fox-Li theory on laser resonators, one of his pioneering contributions to the fields of optics and photonics made in the early 1960’s, continues to benefit the scientific community and the mankind at large today. Dr. Li was also a long-time supporter of PSC, a life-member of the society and a recipient of PSC Achievement Award. Just a few months before passing away, he gave an emotional and inspiring talk at PSC’s annual meeting in 2012 at Optical Fiber Communication (OFC) Conferences to share his precious experiences at Bell Labs and drew hundreds of PSC members to the meeting.
“Dr. Tingye Li was a luminary in the field of optical communications. Importantly, he dedicated his life to helping and guiding young professionals around the world achieve their goals including via his special relationship with PSC: my students always cherished interacting with him during PSC events and in turn Tingye was inspired by the excellent PSC students. He would have been extremely proud of the outstanding caliber and character of students honored in his name by this scholarship,” commented Dr. Alan Willner (past Optica/OSA president, member of National Academy of Engineering, and professor of University of Southern California), one of the many outstanding scientists who were significantly benefited from Dr. Tingye Li’s mentorship at Bell Labs.
Purpose
The purpose of this scholarship is 1) to honor Dr. Tingye Li for his exceptional contributions in the field of photonics, his generous mentoring of young scientists, and his outstanding service to the photonics community; 2) to recognize outstanding graduate students in the fields of optics and photonics, including optical communications, optical sensors, and integrated photonics; 3) to follow Dr. Li’s example to give back to the photonics/scientific community by nurturing young scientists and supporting their future success.
Summary of the Scholarship
An internal PSC committee oversees the annual process. Funds for the scholarship are taken from PSC general dues contributions from industry members as acknowledged on the website.
Each year, the Scholarship Committee will also invite academic and industry experts to form a Nomination Review Committee to evaluate all the nominations. The Nomination Review Committee will determine and oversee the review process of applications and make recommendations to the PSC Board of Directors for final approval. The winner or winners will be announced on the websites and notified individually two weeks before the Annual Meeting in OFC2025.
Any graduate students in any universities and colleges are eligible to be nominated, however, only those with 1) outstanding academic achievements documented by technical publications or conference presentations in reputable journals or conferences, 2) willingness to serve the scientific community evidenced by past activities, and 3) strong recommendations from the candidate’s sponsor and advisor, may be selected. Recognized research groups and professors in the fields of photonics and optics may be invited by the PSC committee members to nominate their best graduate students. The deadline for nominations and applications is January 23, 2025.
Up to two (2) winners will be finally selected by the committee each year based on their scores of academic achievements (70%) and community services (30%). In addition, the top ten (10) finalists with their nominating professors and schools will also be publicized and honored. The scholarship award consists of an award certificate with an achievement citation and a check of $3,000.
PSC (Photonics Society Chinese Heritage)
Nomination Process
The Photonics Society of Chinese Heritage
Nomination Form
(Attaching a brief resume to this form is recommended)
Return this nomination form, together with supporting information, no later than Jan. 16, 2022, to: Dr. Shifu Yuan at shifuyuan@yahoo.com.
2025 PSC Tingye Li Memorial Scholarship and Review Committee
Prof. John Bowers (UCSB)
Prof. Vincent Chan (MIT)
Prof. Guifang Li (UCF)
Prof. Alan Willner (USC)
Dr. Xiang Zhou (Google)
Dr. Karen Liu (PSC)
Dr. Andy Sun (PSC)
Mr. Kevin Zhang (PSC)
Dr. Steve Yao (PSC)
