OSA Fellow Charles V Shank earned his BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California Berkeley in 1965, 1966, and 1069 respectively. In 1969, he joined the technical staff at Bell Telephone Laboratories. During his many years there, he held numerous positions, including Head of the Quantum Physic and Electronic Research Department and Director of the Electronics Research Laboratory. In 1989, he moved to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he stayed until 2004. That year, he joined UC Berkeley, where he remains today as Professor Emeritus.

His work across many sectors has been rewarded with numerous awards and honors, including the 1981 R.W. Wood Prize form OSA, election to the National Academy of Sciences, the George E. Pake Prize of the American Physical Society, the Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science, and OSA’s Charles Hard Townes Award.