Dennis G. Deppe is Professor of Optics & Photonics at the University of Central Florida.

He has won a number of awards, including the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, the Robert & Jane Mitchell Endowed Faculty Fellowship in Engineering (from 1991-2003), the IEEE LEOS Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE LEOS Engineering Achievement Award, and the Cullen Trust Endowed Professorship (2004-20015). He is a Fellow of OSA and IEEE. In 1999, he received the Nick Holonyak, Jr. Award “for the development of the oxide-confined vertical cavity surface-emitting laser.”