2017 OSA Ambassador Rim Cherif is an Associate Professor at the »Institut supérieur des études technologiques en communications de Tunis, Tunisia.

She received her PhD degree in Information and Communication Technologies from the University of Carthage (Tunis, Tunisia), Engineering School of Communication (Sup'Com) in 2009. She has published more than 70 papers in the areas of optical characterization of photonic crystal fibers and photonic nanowires, supercontinuum generation, ultra-fast and nonlinear optics, optical sensors for all optical new generation networks (h-index 9). She is was member in the Executive Board of the Tunisian Optical Society, a member of the ICO family for the period 2012-2015.

She founded the SPIE and OSA Tunisia Student Chapter in 2010 and 2009, respectively. Today she is chapter advisor. She has been invited to serve on the SPIE scholarship committee for 2017. She has organized several conferences and workshops in optics, photonics and women in science. In 2015, she co-organized the first North African FOCUS and IONS Tunis. In 2014, she was Elsevier Foundation New-Scholar Grant holder for Career Building Workshops for STEM Women Scientists in collaboration with Prof. G. Richmond (COACh, University of Oregon). She received the Elsevier Foundation New-Scholar Grant in 2012 for the project Get Ahead with Optics : Career Development for Women in Science.

In 2015, she has been awarded the 2015 ICO/ICTP Gallieno Denardo Award for her achievements in the field of nonlinear optics and in particular for her contributions to the design of highly nonlinear fibers for supercontinuum generation, as well as for her active commitment aimed at the diffusion of research in optics and photonics in Tunisia.