09 December 2013

Kazuro Kikuchi Wins 2014 John Tyndall Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
Contact:
Lyndsay Meyer
The Optical Society
+1.202.416.1435
lmeyer@osa.org
 

Kazuro Kikuchi Wins 2014 John Tyndall Award

 
WASHINGTON, Dec. 9, 2013 – The Optical Society (OSA) and the IEEE Photonics Society today announced that Kazuro Kikuchi of the University of Tokyo in Japan is the recipient of the 2014 John Tyndall Award. Kikuchi is being recognized for “for pioneering contributions to the fundamental understanding of coherent detection techniques.” The award, one of the top honors in the fiber optics community, will be presented to Kikuchi during the plenary session of the 2014 Optical Fiber Communication (OFC) Conference taking place in San Francisco March 9-13.
 
Kikuchi received a B.S. in electrical engineering and an M.S. and Ph.D. in electronic engineering from the University of Tokyo. In 1979, he joined their Department of Electronic Engineering and is currently a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Systems. Kikuchi has also worked at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the Department of Frontier Informatics, and Bell Communications Research.  He presently serves on the board of directors for Alnair Labs Corporation.
 
Throughout his career, Kikuchi’s research has focused on optical fiber communications including optical devices and systems. He is currently involved in coherent optical communication systems that realize multi-level modulation formats with digital signal processing. 
 
“Kazuro’s continued leadership in revolutionizing optical fiber communications has resulted in transmission speeds that were once unheard of,” said OSA CEO Elizabeth Rogan. “The Tyndall Award was specifically designed to recognize the results of this caliber and we are honored to present the award to Kazuro for his momentous achievements.”
 
Kikuchi has published more than 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, 250 conference papers, several book chapters, and three books. He is a Fellow of the IEEE Photonics Society, a member of OSA, and a Fellow of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (IEICE). He is the recipient of numerous awards including the IEICE Achievement Award, Ichimura Award, Japan IBM Science Prize, Sakurai Memorial Award, Hattori Hokosho Prize, Ericsson Telecommunications Award, Shida Rinzaburo Prize, Japan’s Prime Minister Award for the promotion of academy-industry collaboration, and the NEC C&C Prize.
 
“Kazuro’s development of coherent optical communications technologies to help satisfy the ever-increasing demand for bandwidth is an important breakthrough to optical communications.” said IEEE Photonics Society Executive Director Rich Linke. “OFC is the ideal venue to recognize Kazuro’s invaluable contribution to optical fiber communications as the entire community will be in attendance.”
  
The John Tyndall Award is named for the 19th century scientist who was the first to demonstrate the phenomenon of internal reflection. First presented in 1987, the Tyndall Award recognizes an individual who has made pioneering, highly significant, or continuing technical or leadership contributions to fiber optics technology. Corning, Inc. endows the award, a prize check and a glass sculpture that represents the concept of total internal reflection. The award is co-sponsored by OSA and the IEEE Photonics Society.
 
About OSA
Founded in 1916, The Optical Society (OSA) is the leading professional society for scientists, engineers, students and business leaders who fuel discoveries, shape real-world applications and accelerate achievements in the science of light. Through world-renowned publications, meetings and membership programs, OSA provides quality research, inspired interactions and dedicated resources for its extensive global network of professionals in optics and photonics. For more information, visit www.osa.org.
 
About IEEE Photonics Society (IPS)
The IEEE Photonics Society is one of the world’s leading technical communities in the field of optoelectronics and photonic materials, devices, and systems, with members and activities engaged in research, development, design, manufacture, and applications, as well as with the various other activities necessary for the useful expansion of the field. As part of this dynamic worldwide community, more than 100,000 photonics professionals actively organize, contribute to, and participate in Society technical conferences, journals and other activities covering all aspects of the field. The IEEE Photonics Society has 75+ worldwide chapters and is part of IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional association. The IEEE Photonics Society (IPS) is the current name for the former IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society (LEOS). Learn more at www.photonicssociety.org.
 
About OFC
For more than 35 years, OFC has been the premier destination for converging breakthrough research and innovation in telecommunications, optical networking, fiber optics and, recently, datacom and computing. Consistently ranked in the top 200 tradeshows in the United States, and named one of the Fastest Growing Trade Shows in 2012 by TSNN, the conference unites service providers, systems companies, enterprise customers, IT businesses, and component manufacturers, with researchers, engineers, and development teams from around the world. OFC includes dynamic business programming, an exposition of more than 550 companies, and cutting-edge peer-reviewed research that, combined, showcase the trends and pulse of the entire optical networking and communications industry. OFC is managed by The Optical Society (OSA) and co-sponsored by OSA, the IEEE Communications Society (IEEE/ComSoc), and the IEEE Photonics Society.  OFC 2014 takes place March 9-13 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, Calif., USA.