EECS professor and I2S faculty member Rongqing Hui elected Fellow of Optica Society

In November, the Board of Directors of Optica announced the election of 121 members from 23 countries to the Society’s 2026 Fellow Class. KU electrical engineering and computer science (EECS) professor and Institute for Information Sciences (I2S) researcher Rongqing Hui is among them.

Optica is a society dedicated to advancing optics and photonics worldwide, promoting the generation, application, archiving, and dissemination of knowledge in the field. Founded in 1916 (formally OSA: Optical Society of America), it is the leading organization for scientists, engineers, business professionals, students and others interested in the science of light.

Fellow membership in Optica is limited to no more than ten percent of the total membership and is reserved for members who have served with distinction in the advancement of optics and photonics.

According to a press release, Hui is being honored specifically “For outstanding and sustained contributions to the research and development of optical communication systems, devices, and optical measurement techniques.”

“It is a great honor to be recognized and to represent KU as a Fellow member of such a historic and worldwide scientific society,” said Hui. “Optica fellows include many Nobel laureates, renowned scientists and innovators who inspired me to pursue my career in science and engineering.”

Hui joined the EECS faculty at KU in 1997 after serving as a member of the scientific staff at Bell-Northern Research and Nortel, in Ottawa, Canada. He earned his doctorate in electronics engineering at Politecnico di Torino in Torino, Italy, in 1993, and his master’s in light wave technology at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications in 1988 in Beijing, China. At I2S, Hui serves as the director of the Center for Communications, Networking and Photonics (CCNP), which conducts research in telecommunications systems, subsystems and networks to photonic materials, devices, and the understanding of their fundamental physics and engineering design rules.

CCNP is one of six centers of research at I2S. The mission of I2S is to sustain and grow national leadership in the creation, dissemination, and commercialization of new technologies in computer systems, communication systems, and radar systems.