INTRODUCING OUR NEWEST BOARD MEMBER, Y.K. CHEN

The Coherent/II-VI Foundation is proud to announce the addition of a new director to our Board of Directors. By a unanimous vote on June 30, 2023, Dr. Young-Kai Chen was appointed to the Coherent/II-VI Foundation Board of Directors.

Dr. Young-Kai (Y.K.) Chen is the Deputy Chief Technology Officer at Coherent Corporation. He joined Coherent in 2017, responsible for developing advanced semiconductor electronics, optoelectronics, and sensors for next generation products. He also serves as part-time visiting professor at Princeton University and Cornell University. From 2017 to 2021, he was a Program Manager at DARPA initiating and managing programs in advanced semiconductor electronics, AI/Machine Learning processing and secured communications. Before DARPA, he was a Senior Director at Nokia Bell Labs from 1988 to 2017 supporting advanced research and development in the areas of high-speed electronics and optoelectronics.  From 1980 to 1988, he was a design engineer on mixed-mode and microwave integrated circuits for phase arrays at Electronics Laboratory, General Electric Co.

Dr. Chen received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University, MSEE on planar phase array from Syracuse University, and BSEE from National Chiao-Tung University in Taiwan. He is a fellow of Bell Labs, IEEE and Optica (OSA), a member of National Academy of Engineering, and recipient of IEEE David Sarnoff Award and Edison Patent Award.