title: Constance J. Chang-Hasnain
text: # Constance J. Chang-Hasnain
  
  Constance J. Chang-Hasnain is chairperson and founder of Berxel Photonics Co. Ltd. and Whinnery Professor Emerita of the University of California, Berkeley. She was President of Optica in 2021.
  
  She obtained a B.S. degree in electrical and computer engineering from University of California, Davis in 1982, an M.S. and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1984 and 1987, respectively. She was a member of technical staff at Bellcore from 1987 to 1992 and assistant professor at Stanford University between 1992 and 1995. She joined the University of California Berkeley as professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences in 1996. She was Whinnery Distinguished Chair Professor 2006-2020; chair of the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Graduate Group 2006-2017; and associate dean for strategic alliances of College of Engineering 2014-2019. She was the founding co-director of Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute (TBSI) 2015-2020 and the chief academic officer of Berkeley Education Alliance for Research in Singapore (BEARS) 2015-2018.
  
  She is a Fellow of the IEEE, The Optical Society, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology. She was editor-in-chief for the IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technologies.
  
  Her research interests include VCSELs, high contrast gratings, and nanostructure growth.
  
  Chang-Hasnain was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2018 for contributions to wavelength tunable diode lasers and multiwavelength laser arrays.
  
  ## Awards
  
  * IEEE LEOS Distinguished Lecturer Award, 1994
  * Curtis W. McGraw Research Award from the American Society of Engineering Education, 2000
  * IEEE William Streifer Scientific Achievement Award, 2003
  * National Academy of Engineering, Gilbreth Lecturer Award, 2005
  * Nick Holonyak Jr. Award, Optical Society of America, 2007
     * For contributions to the control of diode lasers: vertical cavity surface emitting laser arrays, injection locking and slow light
  * Guggenheim Fellow, 2009
  * Humboldt Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung Foundation, 2009
  * Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship (formerly National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship), 2008
  * IEEE David Sarnoff Award, 2011
  * UNESCO Medal For the Development of Nanoscience and Nanotechnologies, 2015
  * Elected Member, National Academy of Engineering, 2018
  * The Okawa Prize, 2018
     * For pioneering and outstanding research of VCSEL photonics through the development of their novel functions for optical communications and optical sensing.
  * The Welker Award, 2022
     * For pioneering contributions to VCSEL photonics, nano-photonics and high contrast metastructures for optical communications and optical sensing
  