Plenary Speakers

 

		Alan Eli Willner, University of Southern California, USA Fellow of AAAS, APS, IEEE, IET, OSA, SPIE, and AAIA, Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, International Fellow of the U.K. Royal Academy of Engineering, Presidential Faculty Fellows Award from the White House

Alan Willner received a Ph.D. (1988) in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University and a B.A. (1982) in Physics and an Honorary Doctorate (Honoris Causa, 2012) from Yeshiva University. Prof. Willner was a Postdoctoral Member of Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Labs and a Member of Technical Staff at Bellcore. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering and the Andrew & Erna Viterbi Professorial Chair in the Ming Hsieh Dept. of Electrical & Computer Eng. of the Viterbi School of Eng. at the Univ. of Southern California; he also has a joint appointment with Dept. of Physics & Astronomy of the Dornsife College. Prof. Willner has been a Visiting Professor at Columbia Univ., Univ. College London, and Weizmann Institute of Science. He has been a Member of the U.S. Army Science Board, a Member of the Defense Sciences Research Council (16-member body that provided reports to DARPA Director & Office Directors), and a member of many advisory boards. He was also Founder & CTO of Phaethon Communications, a company whose technology was acquired by Teraxion, that created the ClearSpectrum® dispersion compensator product line which is presently deployed in many commercial 40-Gbit/s systems worldwide.
Prof. Willner has received the following honors: Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, International Fellow of the U.K. Royal Academy of Engineering, Presidential Faculty Fellows Award from the White House, Ellis Island Medal of Honor, IEEE Eric Sumner Technical Field Award, Packard Foundation Fellowship in Science & Engineering, John Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, U.S. Dept. of Defense Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship, Fellow of National Academy of Inventors, Institution of Eng. & Tech. (IET) J.J. Thomson Medal, Thomas Egleston Medal for Distinguished Engineering Achievement (highest eng. award from Columbia Eng. Alumni Association), Optica (formerly Optical Society (OSA)) Paul Forman Engineering Excellence Award, IEEE Photonics Society Engineering Achievement Award, National Science Foundation National Young Investigator Award, Fulbright Foundation Senior Scholar Lecture & Research Fellowship, Honorary Professor of Huazhong Univ. of Science & Technology, Civilian Service Commendation Medal (US Dept. of the Army), IEEE Photonics Society Distinguished Lecturer Award, SPIE President’s Award, IEEE Photonics Society Distinguished Service Award, USC Associates Award for University-Wide Creativity in Research (highest USC research award), USC Associates Award for University-Wide Excellence in Teaching (highest USC teaching award), OSA Robert Hopkins Leadership Award, USC Phi Kappa Phi Faculty Recognition Award (for significant scholarly work), Member of European Academy of Sciences and Arts, USC Senior Engineering Research Award, USC Best Engineering Teacher Award, 2001 Eddy Paper Award from Pennwell Publications for Best Contributed Technical Article (across all 30 magazines in Pennwell’s Advanced Technology Division), IEEE Globecom Best Paper Award, and Edwin Howard Armstrong Foundation Memorial Award for highest-ranked EE Masters student at Columbia University. He is a Fellow of AAAS, APS, IEEE, IET, OSA, SPIE, and AAIA, and he was a Fellow of the Semiconductor Research Corporation. Prof. Willner was an invited foreign dignitary representing the sciences for the 2009 Nobel Prize Ceremonies in Stockholm.
Prof. Willner’s activities include: Co-Chair of U.S. National Academies’ Study on Optics & Photonics, President of the OSA, President of the IEEE Photonics Society (formerly LEOS), Co-Chair of OSA Science & Engineering Council, Vice-President for Technical Affairs of IEEE Photonics Society, Editor-in-Chief of OSA Optics Letters, Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology (JLT), Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, Associate Editor of the IEEE Journal of Selected Areas in Communications Series on Optical Networks, Photonics Division Chair of OSA, Chair of IEEE TAB Ethics and Member Conduct Committee, Chair of the National Photonics Initiative, General Co-Chair of the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, Program Co-Chair of OSA Annual Meeting, General Chair of IEEE Photonics Society Annual Meeting, Program Chair of Telecommunications Engineering at SPIE’s Photonics West, and Chair of the Unclassified Technical Program for IEEE MILCOM.

 

		Jianping Yao, University of Ottawa, Canada Fellow of IEEE, the Optica (formerly Optical Society of America), the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and the Royal Society of Canada

Jianping Yao is a Distinguished University Professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Ottawa, Canada. He is known for his contributions to Microwave Photonics. Prof. Yao has authored over 400 refereed journal papers and 300 conference papers, with more than 30,000 citations and an H-index of 90. He was Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Photonics Technology Letters (2017-2021), an elected member of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Photonics Society (2018-2021), and currently a member of the IEEE Photonic Society Publication Council. He was an IEEE Distinguished Microwave Lecturer (2013-2015). Prof. Yao received the 2018 R.A. Fessenden Silver Medal from IEEE Canada and the 2025 IEEE Microwave Application Award from the IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society. Prof. Yao is a Fellow of IEEE, the Optica (formerly Optical Society of America), the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and the Royal Society of Canada.

Speech Title: Microwave Photonics for AI: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract: Microwave photonics (MWP) is an interdisciplinary field that integrates microwave engineering with photonic technology to enable ultra-fast signal processing, leveraging the exceptional speed and broad bandwidth of photonics. In parallel, artificial intelligence (AI) has seen rapid advancements, particularly in machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision. However, conventional electronic hardware struggles to keep up with the increasing computational demands of AI, especially in real-time processing and large-scale data analysis. This has motivated the exploration of alternative computing paradigms, including photonic computing. The integration of AI with MWP holds significant potential for next-generation intelligent systems. Photonic computing platforms can leverage the ultra-fast speed, parallel processing, and low power consumption of optical signals to accelerate AI-related tasks. Optical neural networks, photonic tensor processors, and MWP-based reservoir computing are emerging as promising solutions for AI acceleration.
This talk will explore MWP techniques for AI, highlighting key applications and examples of how MWP can be utilized to support AI-driven computing and signal processing. Additionally, the implementation of photonic-assisted AI using photonic integrated circuits (PICs) will be discussed, addressing the challenges and opportunities in developing compact, scalable, and efficient photonic AI hardware.

 

		Erdal Panayirci, Kadir Has University, Turkey Life Fellow IEEE, Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Turkey

Prof. Erdal Panayirci is a Life Fellow of IEEE. He has published extensively in leading scientific journals and international conferences and coauthored the book Principles of Integrated Maritime Surveillance Systems (Kluwer Academic, 2000). His research interests include communication theory, synchronization, advanced signal processing techniques, and their applications to wireless electrical, underwater, and optical communications. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences of Türkiye. He has served as a member of the IEEE Fellow Committee from 2005 to 2008 and from 2018 to 2020 and as a member of the IEEE GLOBECOM/ICC Management and Strategy Standing Committee from 2017 to 2020. He is currently a member of the IEEE ComSoc Awards Standing Committee between 2022-2024. He served as the Technical Program Co-Chair, the General Co-Chair, and the Technical Program Chair for several IEEE ICC, IEEE PIMRC, and IEEE WCNC conferences. He was an Editor of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS in synchronization and equalization from 1995 to 2000.