Robert W. Tkach is Director of Advanced Photonics Research at Nokia Bell Labs. His research has involved dispersion management, optical amplification, optical networking, and high-speed DWDM transmission systems. Prior to rejoining Bell Laboratories in 2006, he has been: CTO of Celion Networks, Division Manager at AT&T Labs – Research, and a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories. He has been General Co-Chair of OFC, Vice-President of OIF, Associate Editor of the Journal of Lightwave Technology, a member of the IEEE LEOS Board of Governors and currently serves as Vice-President for Publications of the IEEE Photonics Society. He is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America, the IEEE, and AT&T. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and has received the Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award from the R&D Council of New Jersey, the IEEE/OSA John Tyndall Award, the Marconi Prize and Fellowship, and the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal. 

Robert Jopson received his PhD in physics from Harvard University in 1981.  Since 1981, he has been at Bell Laboratories working on various issues in lightwave communications including optical amplifiers, polarization-mode dispersion (PMD), nonlinearity mitigations, optical signal processing, and the effects of polarization transients on lightwave systems.