Paul Daniel Dapkus received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois in 1970. He is now the William M. Keck Professor of Engineering and Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, and Physics and Astronomy and the director of the Photonics Center at the University of Southern California.

Prior to coming to USC, Dapkus was a member of technical staff at Bell Laboratories where he worked on visible light emitting diodes. He then worked at Rockwell International where he led the group responsible for the demonstration of the viability of MOCVD as a device epitaxy process.

At USC, Professor Dapkus' research has centered on the invention and demonstration of novel and high performance photonic devices. They have made important contributions to the physics and technology of 1.55 micron lasers for fiber optic technology, ultralow threshold edge emitting lasers and vertical cavity surface emitting lasers. His current research involves the application of selective area growth to functional photonic devices, the development of resonator based devices for WDM and signal processing, and the development of novel GaN based lasers for biochip applications.

Dapkus has been awarded the IEEE Distinguished Lecturer Award, IEEE Engineering Achievement Awrd, IEEE David Sarnoff Award, the USC Associates Award for Creativity in research and Scholarship, and the International Symposium on Compound Semiconductors Welker Medal. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. OSA recognized his achievements with the 2005 Nick Holonyak, Jr. Award, the 2015 John Tyndall Award, and election to Fellow.