The OSA (Optical Society) announced that Prof. Fumio Koyama, Director-General, Institute of Innovative Research, Professor, Laboratory for Future Interdisciplinary Research of Science and Technology, wins the 2019 Nick Holonyak, Jr. Award. The Nick Holonyak, Jr. Award has been presented to an individual who has made significant contributions to optics based on semiconductor-based optical devices and materials, including basic science and technological applications. The award was established in 1997 to honor Nick Holonyak Jr., who has made distinguished contributions to the field of optics through the development of light emitting diodes and semiconductor lasers, and has been called as the father of LED.

Prof. Koyama is awarded “For seminal contributions to VCSEL photonics and integration”.

Professor Koyama commented, “I’m honored by being selected by OSA as a recipient of this very prestigious award. It has been over 40 years since Professor Emeritus Kenichi Iga invented VCSEL as a new type of semiconductor lasers. These days, VCSELs have been widely used for various applications such as datacenter networks, 3D optical sensing in smartphones, automotive LiDAR and so on. Those have been making great impacts for Internet of Things. This recognition will further stimulate my research efforts in the field.”

The 2019 Nick Holonyak, Jr. Award will be presented later.

See 
https://www.osa.org/en-us/awards_and_grants/awards/award_description/nickholonyak/