Tingye Li Innovation Prize (CLEO)
Foundation
Tingye Li Innovation Prize (CLEO)
Be recognized for innovation and research excellence at CLEO.
Program Prize
USD 3,000
Foundation
Established in 2013, the Tingye Li Innovation Prize honors the global impact Tingye Li made to laser science and optical fiber communications.
The prize recognizes innovation and research excellence, and is presented to an early career member of Optica, the IEEE Communications Society or the IEEE Photonics Society who has an exceptional accepted paper to CLEO. The recipient receives US $3,000.
The Prize is funded by Alliance Fiber Optic Products, Inc., AT&T, Optica, the IEEE Photonics Society, the IEEE Communications Society, Thorlabs, Inc., the Li family and supporters of the Tingye Li Memorial Fund.
Application Information
How To Apply
Submit a paper to CLEO and opt into the competition. Learn more on the conference website.
Important Dates
The submitting author must opt-in to the competition during the regular paper submission process and follow all of the instructions provided on the submission site.
Eligibility Criteria
- Have an accepted paper to CLEO or a Post Deadline Paper (PDP) and must have "opted in" during the submission process
- Be a current early career member of Optica, the IEEE Communications Society or the IEEE Photonics Society
- Be within five years of receiving your terminal degree
- Be responsible for and exhibit innovative ideas in your research
Application Requirements
The submitting author must opt-in to the competition during the regular paper submission process.
If you have questions, please contact prizes@optica.org.
Past Recipients
2026
Sonja Lingl
University of Regensburg, Germany
For their paper "Tracking Electron Wave Packets at the Space-Time Limit"
2025
Daniel Herman
Sandia National Laboratories, USA
For their paper "Squeezing in a dual-comb centerburst"
2024
Nicholas Rivera
Harvard University, USA
For their paper "An ab initio framework for understanding and controlling quantum fluctuations in complex light-matter systems"
2023
Chen Shang
University of California Santa Barbara, USA
For their paper "scalable on-chip lasers grown on 300 mm Si wafers"
2022
Armin Feist
MPI for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Germany
For their paper "electron-photon correlations induced at a photonic integrated
microresonator"
2021
Yating Wan
University of California Santa Barbara, USA
For their paper "1.3 µm regrown quantum-dot distributed feedback lasers on (001) Si: a pathway to scale towards 1 Tbit/s"
2020
Julia Gessner
National Institute of Standards & Technology, USA
For their paper "Ultrafast Charge and Spin Dynamics in Ferromagnets"
2019
Shai Tsesses
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Israel
For their paper "Optical skyrmions: a new topological state of light"
2018
Logan G. Wright
Cornell University, USA
For their paper "Spatiotemporal Mode-Locking"
2017
Yoshitomo Okawachi
Columbia University, USA
2016
Marcus Seidel
Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics, Germany
For their paper "development of Watt-class femtosecond sources at mid-IR wavelengths beyond the oxygen absorption edge around 5 µm"
2015
Antonietta De Sio
Universitat Oldenburg, Germany
For their paper "50x50 Digital Silicon Photonic Switches with MEMS-Actuated Adiabatic Couple"
Selection Committee
The recipient is selected by the CLEO conference chairs.
