2007 OSA President Joseph Eberly earned a B.S. degree from Pennsylvania State University and a Ph.D. from Stanford University and has been teaching graduate and undergraduate classes in the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Rochester since the 1970s. He is currently the Andrew Carnegie Professor of Physics and also professor of optics.

His long-time research interests in quantum optics and radiation physics have led to a number of discoveries and innovations, including the initial description of the spontaneous collapse and revival effect, the first observation of Bessel beams, and predictions of the recently observed non-spreading localized states of electrons in atoms, and the sudden death effect in quantum entanglement.

He received the Charles Hard Townes Award from OSA and the Goergen Award for Creative Undergraduate Teaching from the University of Rochester and has been designated a Distinguished Alumnus of the Penn State College of Science. He was awarded the Smoluchowski Medal by the Polish Physical Society.

Eberly was awarded OSA's highest honor, the Frederic Ives Medal/Jarus W. Quinn Prize, in 2010 "for many important research contributions to quantum optics and optical physics, his leadership as a teacher and educator, and his tireless and visionary service to the optics community."

In 2012, he was awarded with OSA's Distinguished Service Award “for outstanding service as founding editor of the groundbreaking journal, Optics Express, leadership while serving as President, and his deep commitment in serving OSA in many other ways."

Eberly has mentored more than 35 PhD graduates, and published more than 350 research papers, as well as three graduate texts: Optical Resonance and Two-Level Atoms with L. Allen; Lasers; and Laser Physics, both with P.W. Milonni.

He is the founding editor of the journal Optics Express and has served as chair of the APS Division of Laser Physics, on the APS Council, and the AIP Board of Governors, and as a member of the Advisory Boards of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics and ITAMP-Harvard. He is a Fellow of OSA and APS, and is an elected Foreign Member of the Polish Academy of Science.

Eberly served as President of the Optical Society in 2007 and was an instrumental co-chair of OSA's Centennial Advisory Committee which was charged with planning OSA's 100th Anniversary in 2016. He continues to be active on several OSA committees. In 2021, he was elected an Honorary Member of the Society, "For pioneering contributions to the foundations of quantum optics theory, his dedicated service to the optics community, and his visionary leadership in promoting international cooperation in optics research."