Get to Know Your Leadership: Peter Delfyett, VP of Membership - The IEEE Photonics Society

Get to Know Your Leadership: Peter Delfyett, VP of Membership - The IEEE Photonics Society
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Get to Know Your Leadership: Peter Delfyett, VP of Membership
April 16, 2026
This column highlights the experiences and perspectives of leaders and volunteers within the IEEE Photonics Society, offering members a closer look at the individuals shaping the community. Through Q&A-style interviews, readers gain insight into their career journeys, contributions to the field, and thoughts on the future of photonics, the community in which the IEEE serves, and professional development.
In this edition, we highlight Peter Delfyett, Ph.D., IEEE Photonics Society Vice President of Membership, UCF Trustee Chair, Pegasus Professor, and Director of the Townes Laser Institute at the College of Optics and Photonics (CREOL), University of Central Florida. He earned his B.E. in Electrical Engineering from The City College of New York in 1981, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Rochester in 1983, and both his M.Phil. and Ph.D. from the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York in 1987 and 1988, respectively.
Following his doctoral studies, Delfyett joined Bell Communications Research as a Member of the Technical Staff, where he focused on generating ultrafast, high-power optical pulses from semiconductor diode lasers for applications in photonic networks. Among his notable achievements are the development of the world’s fastest and most powerful mode-locked semiconductor laser diode, the demonstration of an optically distributed clocking network for high-speed digital switches and supercomputing, and the first observation of optical nonlinearity induced by the cooling of highly excited electron-hole pairs in semiconductor optical amplifiers. His contributions at Bellcore were recognized with several honors, including the Bellcore Synergy Award and the Bellcore Award of Appreciation. In 1993, Delfyett joined the faculty at CREOL, University of Central Florida, where his research has made significant impact across the physics, design, and application of semiconductor-based mode-locked laser diodes.
He has held numerous leadership roles within IEEE, including serving as Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, Associate Editor of IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, Executive Editor of the IEEE Photonics Newsletter, inducted member of IEEE Eta Kappa Nu, and as an elected member on the Society’s Board of Governors. He is also a Fellow of the IEEE Photonics Society, the National Society of Black Physicists, the National Academy of Inventors, and other respective professional associations.
Delfyett has received many distinguished honors, including recognition as one of the “50 Most Important Blacks in Research Science,” and he served two terms as President of the National Society of Black Physicists. In 2020, he received the IEEE Photonics Society William Streifer Scientific Achievement Award for pioneering contributions to semiconductor diode-based ultrafast laser science and technology. Most recently, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
He has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed journal publications, contributed to over 600 conference proceedings and invited presentations, and holds 45 U.S. patents.
Delfyett is widely recognized for his dynamic personality. His passion for the field, combined with his talent for making complex concepts accessible, inspires others to appreciate and explore the transformative potential of photonics across science, engineering, and everyday life.
Can you tell us about your journey into photonics and the key inspiration or turning point that set you on this path?
I was attracted to photonics many years ago. I was an undergraduate electrical engineering student in my junior year (1979) and I was thinking about which elective courses I would take. I saw a course entitled “Introduction to Lasers and Masers” and read the course description. The very last line of the course description read “This course will also introduce the student to the introductory concepts of fiber optic communications” and I said to myself “that’s going to be the technology of the future!  If I can gain an expertise in that field, it could potentially guide me through my career”. As I prepared to take this course, I decided to take a course in physical optics. In that class, I learned that, through diffraction, light creates the 2-dimensional Fourier transform of an image. I was learning about Fourier transforms in my circuits and communication courses, and the idea that light could do the calculation, at the speed of light, for free, was just astonishing.
As VP of Membership, what key areas will you focus on, and how do you envision leading the Membership Council and its respective Committees to advance engagement and broaden the Society’s impact?
I believe we can broaden our impact by being strategically focused on the desires of our membership. To do this, we should look at the range of products and services we offer and their benefits, and progress these as technology and membership evolve. As specific examples, we plan to focus on 3 important areas: 1) Education, 2) Engagement and 3) Recognition.
Our focus on Education will encompass increasing content in the IEEE Resource Center. Prior to the establishment of the IEEE Resource Centers, valuable technical content was not easily accessible. Now, IEEE Society members can access most content from their respective Resource Centers for free. This new content is being provided by Laser-Tec, Hackathons, Spark Photonics, the OPEN Network, and the ETOP archive, with on-demand recordings, webinars, instruction manuals, teaching curriculum, demos, etc.
In addition, we are launching a photonics-focused collection through IEEE Try Engineering of resources for parents, teachers and instructors working with school-aged children to develop and engage in quality STEM outreach activities locally. This helps IEEE reach as many K-12 students as possible worldwide, specifically around photonics. And finally, we are collaborating with American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) to enhance STEM outreach and effectively implement a “Teach the Teacher” approach within Education Committee. We believe by focusing on these education areas, we can simultaneously provide value to our current members and plant the seeds for future membership and community growth.
Our focus on Engagement will create aligned, action-oriented goals to improve global engagement, amplify member voices, and support struggling and emerging photonics regions to accelerate and sustain their growth. We will also align these goals with insights from our strategic plan initiative, the IEEE Technical Activities board, and IEEE 2030 plan. We will also look at our sister society agreements and related tactics to ensure that our collaborations deliver measurable value and expand our reach into new communities and audiences. This will enable us to move beyond agreements that are purely signatory in nature and instead focus on actively guiding mutually beneficial collaboration models.
As a Membership Council we will also explore opportunities, when feasible, to strategically align technical themes with global member needs and find ways to partner better with the Publication and Conference Councils to support special issues and local conferences/workshops. If we are successful in implementing these actions, we believe this coordinated approach will strengthen our partnerships, increase regional relevance, and position the Society to better serve evolving technical communities worldwide.
Finally, our focus on Recognition will expand how we acknowledge the contributions of our members in more visible and creative ways. In addition to enhancing traditional technical awards, we aim to highlight volunteer efforts through initiatives such as member profiles, a Young Professionals speakers bureau, and other storytelling approaches that showcase impact and engagement.
Building on existing efforts, such as reviewer recognition within publications, we can extend similar models to conference service and other forms of volunteerism. Likewise, recognizing active contributors at the local chapter level can meaningfully elevate visibility and appreciation. Together, these approaches help create a more inclusive and dynamic recognition portfolio that celebrates contributions across the full spectrum of member engagement.
Delfyett leads an Ultrafast Photonics Group, that conducts cutting-edge experimental research in seven state-of-the-art laboratories and the group focusses on ultrafast high power optical pulses from semiconductor diode lasers, for applications in applied photonic networks and laser induced materials modification.
What concrete steps are being taken to further strengthen and personalize the value the Society provides to members at every career stage and across global communities?
We are providing new tools that support professional growth and development for all professional stages, across all geographic sections. A specific example as noted earlier, is the IEEE Resource Center. There, we have content that covers opportunities to earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs) and Professional Development Hours (PDH). These informational programs enable members to stay on top of their field and advance their knowledge across all areas of photonics, and IEEE as a whole.  In addition, we have created a new Committee within the Membership Council, called Collaboration and Engagement Committee, whose goals are to emerging photonics regions to accelerate and sustain their growth.
Another important concrete step we are taking is to listen to our members. Recently, we have conducted an extensive membership survey and based on the survey results, we are developing a strategic plan that will improve membership satisfaction and engagement, with guidelines for measuring success. Just over the past few years, we created the Young Professionals Advisory Committee, whose role is to identify technical and professional topics of greatest interest to our younger professionals, while assessing skill gaps, upskilling pressures, and opportunities for targeted learning and mentoring support. By analyzing engagement patterns of young professionals, we can translate early-career insights into recommendations that help shape Society programs, products, resources, and develop a long-term strategy for maintaining satisfaction among our members.
From your leadership perspective, why are chapters and local groups essential to the vitality of the IEEE Photonics community?
Local chapters broaden the visibility of both the Photonics Society and the IEEE as a whole and gives members a chance to volunteer over a large range of activities. This type of engagement leads to opportunities for professional growth of our volunteers, which has the long-term effect of strengthening their impact of the Society and the profession in their local communities. In some sense, I view the local chapters as the seed that grows the grassroots activities of the professional community. In addition, the local chapters help our members to develop a sense of community and belonging in their specific region.
What initiatives are underway to evolve the Society’s educational offerings and create learning pathways that prepare future photonics leaders?
As shared, the IEEE Photonic Society’s Education Committee’s ongoing collaboration with IEEE TryEngineering is developing photonics-specific educational resources in a cohesive and accessible way. In addition, the TryEngineering collection will have refreshed material and activities, engineering design challenge curriculum, and college ecosystem lists to prospective undergraduate students and technicians. These tools and resources go a long way to go by creating new learning pathways that will create the photonics leaders that our future will need.
How can the collective photonics community better support STEM outreach from K–12 through undergraduate education? Why is this so important?
I believe that one important way our photonics community can strengthen STEM outreach across the K–20 spectrum is by partnering more intentionally with educators, particularly by helping to train teachers on how to effectively introduce and teach photonics in their classrooms. At the same time, our members have much to learn from local teachers who work with students every day; they bring invaluable expertise in how to engage, communicate, and inspire the next generation. Being able to connect with the public and clearly explain photonics concepts is essential to expanding our science and its impact.
Most of us can recall our own journeys learning photonics, including those pivotal “aha” moments when a concept or application suddenly clicked in a truly eye-opening way. These experiences often shaped our passion for the field. However, many teachers may not have had the same depth of exposure to photonics. By equipping them with both content knowledge and engaging teaching approaches and methodologies, while also learning from their classroom experience, we can help create those same transformative moments for students. In doing so, we not only inspire future innovators but also broaden awareness, scalability, and appreciation of photonics across society.
Delfyett has served as a CLEO Plenary Speaker on, “Ultrafast Laser Science and Technology Using Semiconductor Diode Lasers,” where he described his advances in chirped-pulse amplified (CPA) lasers technology over 20 years.
Can you share an example of how mentorship has influenced your career, and why you believe mentorship is particularly important in photonics and engineering today?
Mentorship provides a roadmap for success to young scientists. I’ve had many mentors over my career, and I have had several ‘mentors’ that didn’t know they were mentoring me. In all cases, and I try to listen, and learn from them, i.e., what are their ‘best-practices’. I like to say, “learn from the experiences of others, as we don’t have enough time to experience them all for ourselves”. Being in STEM is particularly challenging because most of us growing up didn’t have people around us doing “STEM”, at least I didn’t. So, going into an area where you have no framework for the environment can be very overwhelming. Specifically, in photonics, since it is an emerging technology, our community is small, which can be both good and bad, so having a mentor can be very useful to help young professionals navigate the playing field.
For members looking to take on leadership roles or become more involved as volunteers, what guidance would you share? How has volunteering impacted your journey personally and/or professionally?
I believe the best way for members to take on a leadership role is to seek them out. Ask how they can help, contribute and volunteer. They can reach out to IEEE Photonics Society leadership and staff and get a sense of what might be needed. Most importantly, get involved in your local chapter. If you don’t have one, start with one. This shows initiative. Once you’re doing this, they are creating their own volunteering/service opportunities,
For me, volunteering created a larger professional network for myself, and a strong professional network can lead to a broad range of new opportunities. In addition, when I have the chance to see the success of my mentees, this shows me that my efforts are impactful, and that impact continues to inspire me.
Do you have a favorite book, movie, or podcast that has influenced your work or leadership style?
When I was in 1
st
grade, my father took me to see the movie “Journey to the Beginning of Time”. This movie got me interested in dinosaurs, and I was fascinated by the fact that adults didn’t know everything. If that was the case, it became clear that one day, I could possibly discover or invent something that might be useful to humanity. That passion still lives within me, and I try to instill that into my students.
My leadership style is somewhat fashioned from the style of King Arthur, of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and that is to be collaborative, visionary, and to do my best to serve the people that I lead. I believe that if your team feels that they have a voice in what we’re doing, they will do their best because they help us decide what gets done.
What are a few fun or interesting facts about you that others might not know, such as a hobby, talent, and/or personal interest?
Before I went to school as an undergraduate in electrical engineering, I was the drummer of local band. It wasn’t anything serious, but we would have weekly band practice, and in high school, I was the percussionist for the ‘senior band’. I had thought of going to college for music, but engineering was the path that I followed. I still play, and occasionally, I will get a chance to play with colleagues and students at CREOL. We call ourselves “The Quantum Beats”.
I also took Latin dance lessons, specifically for the Latin dance style of “salsa”. I had practiced and trained for several years and performed with a ‘junior team’ of one of the salsa schools in Orlando. To this day, I still will go to salsa dance events; it’s a great hobby and it’s excellent for your mental and physical health.
As I look back, I have noticed an interesting correlation in my professional research activities and my personal hobbies, and that is that “time” or better yet, “timing”, is a common theme, throughout. For example, in my research, I have worked on low noise semiconductor laser-based mode-locked lasers as optical clocks for sampling and timing applications. In my personal hobbies, being the drummer in a band, you are the key component as timekeeper in the group, and when you’re dancing salsa as ‘the lead’, timing is most important, as it’s your responsibility to keep on time.
From drummer to engineer—continuing a lifelong passion for music with “The Quantum Beats” alongside colleagues and students at CREOL.
As salsa dancer, Delfyett blends rhythm, discipline, and joy through years of training, performances, and an ongoing love for Latin dance.
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