Prof. Ian White

Prof. Ian White is currently van Eck Professor of Engineering, Chair of the Council, School of Technology and Head of the Photonic Research Group in the Engineering Department at Cambridge.

Ian White graduated from Jesus College, Cambridge where he gained his BA and PhD degrees and was subsequently appointed a research fellow and assistant lecturer at the University. He moved to the University of Bath to become Professor of Physics and then to the University of Bristol where he was Head of Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. His return to Cambridge was in 2001.

Ian White has built up a substantial research activity in the field of optoelectronics and optical communications and his team numbers approximately 40 people publishing on average 60 papers a year. In terms of research output, the group is one of the largest in the field of optoelectronic systems in the UK.

Highlights of Ian White´s research have included: the development of the first all-optical laser diode flip flop, the first negative chirp electro-absorption modulator and the invention of a technique for transmitting radio frequency signals over long distances of multimode optical fibre. Several of these advances have already made commercial impact, the offset launch technique for enhancing the bandwidth of optical fibre links having already been adopted within Gigabit Ethernet standard. He has chaired the channel model sub-task force of the IEEE 10 GbE LRM standard. The Institution of Electrical Engineers has awarded him the Blumlein-Browne-Willans Prize and the Ambrose Fleming Premium Award.

He is heavily involved in policy development and administration of research and sits on a number of International Conference Committees. He is currently an editor of Optical and Quantum Electronics and an honorary editor of Electronics Letters. He has published in excess of 400 publications and holds 20 patents.