1994 President Robert L. Byer is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor in the School of Humanities and Science in the Department of Applied Physics at Stanford University, U.S. He has conducted research and taught classes in lasers and nonlinear optics there since 1969. He has made major contributions to laser science and technology including the demonstration of the first tunable visible parametric oscillator, the development of the Q-switched unstable resonator Nd:YAG laser, remote sensing using tunable infrared sources, and precision spectroscopy using Coherent Anti Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS). Byer's ongoing research includes development of nonlinear optical materials and laser diode pumped solid-state laser sources for applications to gravitational wave detection and to laser particle acceleration.

Byer has served as vice provost and dean of research at Stanford as well as chair of the Department of Applied Physics, director of the Edward L. Ginzton Laboratory, and Director of the Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory. He is a founding member of the California Council on Science and Technology and served as chair from 1995-1999. He has been a member of the National Ignition Facility since 2000 and was a member of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board from 2002-2006. In 2012, Byer served as President of the American Physical Society and was a Charter Fellow, National Academy of Inventors. He is also a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Science.

Byer has published more than 500 papers and holds 50 patents in the fields of lasers and nonlinear optics. For his work, Byer has received numerous awards including the IEEE/LEOS Quantum Electronics Award and the Frederic Ives Medal, the Society's highest honor for pioneering contributions to optical science and the commercial development of optical technologies and for wide-ranging leadership activities within the optics community. He has also received  R. W. Wood Prize, Schawlow Award, the Third Millennium Medal, the Adolph Lomb Medal, and the IEEE Photonics Award. He was elected an Optica Honorary Member in 2023.

Byer has been an active volunteer for the Society, serving on the Board of Directors and many Councils. He was an instrumental co-chair of the Society's Centennial Advisory Committee charged with planning its 100th Anniversary in 2016. He is currently a member of the Presidental Advisory Committee.