J. Gary Eden received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana, in 1976 and was appointed a National Research Council Postdoctoral Research Associate at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (Washington, DC). As a research physicist in the Laser Physics Branch (Optical Sciences Division) of NRL from 1976 to 1979, he made several contributions to the area of visible and ultraviolet lasers and laser spectroscopy, including the co-discovery of the KrCl rare gas-halide excimer laser, and received a Research Publication Award (1979) for his work at NRL in which he co-discovered the proton beam pumped laser (Ar-N2, XeF).

Since joining the faculty of the University of Illinois in 1979, he has done research in atomic, molecular and ultrafast laser spectroscopy, ultraviolet lasers and lamps, and the science and technology of microcavity plasma devices. He has served as Assistant Dean in the College of Engineering, Associate Dean of the Graduate College, and Associate Vice-Chancellor for Research. Currently, he is the Gilmore Family Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of the Laboratory for Optical Physics and Engineering, as well as Research Professor in the Coordinated Science Laboratory, and the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory. He also holds faculty affiliate appointments with the Departments of Bioengineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering.

Dr. Eden has authored more than 295 refereed, archival publications and 82 awarded patents, is a member of four honorary organizations, and is a Fellow of the IEEE, OSA, the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and SPIE. He has served as Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, and Editor-in-Chief of Progress in Quantum Electronics. He is also an Associate Editor of Applied Physics Reviews. In 1998, he served as President of the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society (LEOS), following earlier service as a member of the LEOS Board of Governors, and as the Vice-President for Technical Affairs.

Dr. Eden received the LEOS Distinguished Service Award, was awarded the IEEE Third Millennium Medal in 2000 and was named a LEOS Distinguished Lecturer for 2003-2005. Between 2015 and 2017, he also served as a Distinguished Lecturer for the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics. From 1996 through 1999, he was the James F. Towey University Scholar at the University of Illinois. In 2005, he received the IEEE/LEOS Aron Kressel Award. He was awarded the C.E.K. Mees Medal of tOSA in 2007, and was the recipient of the Fulbright-Israel Distinguished Chair in the Natural Sciences and Engineering for 2007-2008. He is a co-founder of Eden Park Illumination (2007) and EP Purification (2010), and was named the recipient of the Harold E. Edgerton Award of SPIE for 2010. In 2014, he was elected into the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Inventors and recently he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland.