OSA Fellow Yuen-Ron Shen began his education at National Taiwan University, earning his BS in 1956. He then came to the United States, getting his MS from Stanford University in 1959. Finally, he earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1963. He joined the University of California Berkeley in 1964, where he is now Professor Emeritus. Since 1967, he has been a principal investigator at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

His work in condensed matter physics has been recognized worldwide, with honors including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the 1984 Alexander von Humboldt Award, the 1992 Arthur L. Schawlow Prize, the 1996 Max Planck Research Prize, the 1998 F. Isakson Prize, and many others. In 1986, OSA awarded him the Charles Hard Townes Award “for his pioneering and continuing contributions to the field of nonlinear optics.”