Prof. Gary Eden

Professor J. Gary Eden received his B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1972 and M.S. and PhD from the University of Illinois in 1973 and 1976, respectively.
In 1975, Professor Eden joined the Optical Sciences Division of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and later was a research physicist in the Laser Physics Branch. At NRL he made several contributions to the fields of ultraviolet and visible lasers and laser spectroscopy, including codiscovery of the KrCl excimer laser. For demonstrating the first proton beam pumped lasers, Professor Eden and several colleagues received the Research Publication Award in 1979.
Professor Eden joined the faculty at Illinois in 1979 and has been engaged in research in molecular and ultrafast laser spectroscopy, ultraviolet and visible lasers, high intensity optical field-matter interactions, and microcavity plasma devices. He is the director of the Laboratory for Optical Physics and Engineering and has held numerous administrative positions on campus. From 1996 to 1999 he was the James F. Towey University Scholar and, in 2000, received the ECE Faculty Outstanding Teaching Award. He has authored more than 300 journal publications and two books, and holds 78 patents.
Professor Eden is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Optical Society of America, and the American Physical Society. He has received the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society (LEOS) Distinguished Service Award, an IEEE Third Millennium medal, the LEOS Aron Kressel Award, the OSA C.E.K. Mees Medal, and was a LEOS Distinguished Lecturer for 2003-2005. He has served as editor-in-chief of the IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics and as president of LEOS. In 2006, he was appointed editor-in-chief of the journal Progress in Quantum Electronics and has been named the Fulbright-Israel Distinguished Chair in the Natural Sciences and Engineering for 2007-2008. In 2014, he was elected into the National Academy of Engineering (USA), and the National Academy of Inventors.