The IEEE David Sarnoff Award was established in 1959 through agreement between the RCA Corporation and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and continued by the Board of Directors of the IEEE. In 1989, sponsorship of the award was assumed by the Sarnoff Corporation. It may be presented each year to an individual or team up to three in number for exceptional contributions to electronics. For additional information on IEEE Technical Field Awards and Medals, to view complete lists of past recipients or to nominate a colleague or associate for IEEE Technical Field Awards and Medals, please visit http://www.ieee.org/awards.
The 2009 IEEE David Sarnoff Award will be presented to Yasuhiko Arakawa, Kerry John Vahala, and Kam Yin Lau “for seminal contributions to improved dynamics of quantum well semiconductor lasers.” The presentation will take place during the Plenary Session held on 24 March at OFC - Conference on Optical Fiber Communication, 22–26 March, San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, ­California, USA.

Yasuhiko Arakawa was born on 26 November 1952 in Aichi Prefecture, ­Japan. He obtained a B.S. degree in 1975 and a Ph.D. degree in 1980, respectively, from the University of ­Tokyo, both in Electronics Engineering.
Dr. Arakawa’s first professional association was with the University of Tokyo as an Assistant Professor in 1980. In 1981 he became an Assistant Professor at the University of Tokyo. In 1993, he was promoted a Full Professor of the University of Tokyo. He is now a Professor of Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the University of Tokyo and also the Director of Institute for Nano Quantum Information Electronics, the University of Tokyo. From 1984 to 1986 for two years, he was a visiting scientist of California Institute of Technology, staying with Professor Amnon Yariv. During his PhD, he worked on communication theory, proposing Extended Duo-binary Code matched to optical communication channels. When he joined the University of Tokyo, he switched his research field to photonic devices based on quantum effects. His main achievement includes proposal of the concept of quantum dots and their application to quantum dot lasers (‘82), pioneering theoretical and experimental work on quantum size effects on lasing dynamics in semiconductor lasers (‘84–‘86), discovery of exciton-polariton Rabi-­vacuum oscillation in semiconductor nanocavity (‘92), discovery of continuum in density of states in quantum dots by PLE (‘92), the achievement of high temperature stability in high speed quantum dot lasers (‘04) , the first demonstration of single photon sources at telecommunication wavelength (‘04) and the highest operation temperature of 200 K achieved in all-solid single photon sources by using GaN quantum dots (‘06).
Dr. Arakawa is a Fellow of the IEEE, JSAP and IEICE. He is a member of Science Council of Japan. He has published about 400 papers in scientific journals and has given invited talks more than 200 times at international conferences. He has received a number of awards, including Young Scientist Award of International Symposium on Compound Semiconductors (1988), IBM Science Award (1992), ISCS Quantum Device Award (2002), IEEE/LEOS William Streifer Scientific Achievement Award (2004), Leo Esaki Prize (2004), The Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Runner-Up Award (2006), Fujiwara Prize (2007) and Prime Minister Award (2007).
Dr. Arakawa and his wife, Kaoru, reside in Shin-­Yurigaoka, Kawasaki, Japan. Ka oru is a Professor of Meiji University, working on signal processing and bio-information technology. They have two children, Akihiko and Hiroaki.

Kerry Vahala is Ted and Ginger ­Jenkins Professor of Information ­Science and Technology and Professor of Applied Physics at Caltech. He also ­received his Ph. D. (85) in Applied Physics at Caltech.
His research on quantum well lasers predicted and later demonstrated dynamical improvements using engineered nanostructures as active layers. These features contributed to the success of quantum well semiconductor lasers in communications ­systems. Dr. Vahala has also pioneered the subject of high-Q microcavities, including applications to micro-scale Raman and parametric sources, cavity opto-mechanical phenomona, as well as cavity QED on-a-chip systems.
Dr. Vahala is a Fellow of the Optical Society of ­America, was the first recipient of the Richard P. Feynman Hughes Fellowship, and is also a recipient of an Alexander Von ­Humboldt Research Award. He received both the ­Presidential Young Investigator and Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Awards, has 28 patents, over 150 publications, and edited the book, “Optical Microcavities.” He was ­program co-chair for CLEO 99 and General Chair for CLEO 2001.

Kam Y. Lau received simultaneous B.S. /M.S. in 1978, and Ph.D. in 1981, all from Caltech in Electrical Engineering. Upon graduation, he joined ­Ortel Corporation as founding staff/chief ­scientist. His fundamental research in high-speed semiconductor laser ­dynamics provides the foundation for fiber-optic transmitter products leading to Ortel’s successes – its IPO and subsequent acquisition by Lucent/Agere.

Kam Y. Lau received simultaneous B.S. /M.S. in 1978, and Ph.D. in 1981, all from Caltech in Electrical Engineering. Upon graduation, he joined ­Ortel Corporation as founding staff/chief ­scientist. His fundamental research in high-speed semiconductor laser ­dynamics provides the foundation for fiber-optic transmitter products leading to Ortel’s successes – its IPO and subsequent acquisition by Lucent/Agere.
Prof. Lau received the IEEE William Streifer Scientific Achievement and the Distinguished Lecturer Awards from IEEE LEOS in 1996 and the Nicholas Holonyak Award from OSA in 2008. He was Associate Professor of E.E. at Columbia University from 1988–90, and a professor in the EECS department at U.C. Berkeley since 1990. He co-found LGC Wireless, Inc. (“L” of “LGC”). LGC delivers cost-effective in-building wireless coverage and capacity solutions. With over 10,000 large-scale systems installed in .100 countries on every continent, its technology ­becomes de-facto industrial standard. LGC Wireless was acquired by ADC Telecom (Nasdaq : ADCT) in 2007.
In 2005 Prof. Lau assumed Emeritus status and retired from active duties at U.C. Berkeley.