William Renninger received his BS and PhD degrees in applied physics from Cornell University, USA. He is currently on the faculty of the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester, USA. Previously, he was a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Applied Physics at Yale University, USA.

His research has focused on light-matter interactions and associated applications. In the area of ultrafast nonlinear optics, he has studied mode-locking and soliton formation in fibers, laser cavities, and Kerr resonators for applications including biomedical imaging. He has also developed new coherent interactions between photons and phonons for sensing, quantum computing, and RF-photonic signal-processing applications.  Current areas of interest in his group include ultrafast nonlinear optics, photon-phonon interactions, and optical computing. 

He is the recipient of the Adolph Lomb Medal.