Plenary Speakers
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Vice President of Engineering, Octane Wireless
Radio over Fiber Technologies for Future G Networks
Biography
Dalma Novak is VP of Engineering at Octane Wireless (formerly Pharad, LLC) where she develops high-performance RF-over-fiber technologies. Prior to co-founding Pharad in 2004, she spent 12 years as a Professor and Chair of Telecommunications in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at The University of Melbourne, Australia. Her research interests include microwave photonics, fiber-radio systems, wireless technologies, and optical communications. She has published more than 300 papers in these areas, including seven book chapters. In 2007 she was elected to the grade of IEEE Fellow for her contributions to enabling technologies for the implementation of fiber-radio systems. In 2018 she received the IEEE Photonics Society Engineering Achievement Award. Dalma is the 2025 IEEE Technical Activities Vice President and was President of the IEEE Photonics Society during 2014 – 2015.
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Research Organization for Electronics and Information, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN)
Expectations for Optoelectronics and Communications towards the Future of the Asia-Pacific Region
Biography
Budi Prawara received a doctoral degree at the University of the Ryukyus, Japan, in 2004 in the field of Materials, Energy & Structural Engineering. He was formely Head of Research Center for Electrical Power and Mechatronics and in 2019, as Head of Research Center for Electronics and Telecommunications, Indonesian Institute of Sciences.
His research interest in thermally sprayed coatings and number of achievements, including his research regarding Composite Matrix Ceramics as a Wear-Resistant, Corrosion-Resistant and High-Temperature Coating, being included in the list of 106 Indonesian Innovations, by the Business Innovation Center, Ministry of Research and Technology.
Apart from that, in 2006 he represented Indonesia at the Young Scientist Meeting organized by the International Council for Science and Union (ICSU), in Lindau-Germany. This bespectacled man was also recorded as winning the most licenses at LIPI in the period 2020 to 2021.
He has produced a number of scientific papers, both written alone and in collaboration with other researchers, on a national and international scale. He is also active as a student supervisor at several universities.
Budi has various experiences in research collaboration with various parties, local and overseas collaborator, including as a Coordinator for CPAP-BiPAP Ventilator products as Respiratory Aids. This activity received LPDP Ristek Covid-19 Consortium Research Funding, in collaboration with PT Tesena Inovindo and RSHS Bandung.
Currently, Budi has been entrusted with Research Organization for Electronics and Informatics - BRIN, as Chairman.
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Vice President, Head of Device Innovation Center, NTT Corporation
Evolution of All Photonics Network Toward 2030s
~ From Device Technology to Network Architecture ~
Biography
Takashi Saida received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1993, 1995, and 1998, specializing in interferometric optical sensing systems under Prof. Kazuo Hotate. After joining NTT in 1998, dedicated his efforts to the research and development of advanced waveguide devices for next-generation optical communications. His early contributions include the creation of a waveguide-type polarization analyzer, a waveguide-type polarization controller, and an integrated optical digital-to-analog converter for pulse pattern recognition. From 2002 to 2003, he expanded his research at E. L. Ginzton Laboratory, Stanford University under Prof. Martin Fejer. Returning to Japan in 2003, he focused on wavefront matching method (WFM) in optical waveguide design, progressing it to a commercial-ready stage. From 2006 to 2009, as Director of PLC Design at NTT Electronics Corporation, he led both R&D and business development, successfully bringing PLC-based devices like ROADMs, athermal AWG filters, and Delay Line Interferometers for DQPSK demodulation to market. In 2009, he returned to NTT Laboratories to direct R&D on optical devices for digital coherent transmission, particularly silicon photonics-based COSA (coherent optical sub-assemblies). From 2019 to 2023, he led research on optical transmission technology at NTT Network Innovation Laboratories. Since 2023, he has served as Vice President and Head of the Device Innovation Center at NTT Corporation, focusing on advancing device technologies, including photonics-electronics convergence, for IT infrastructure. He is a member of IEICE, JSAP, IEEE, and a Fellow of Optica.
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Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Davis
Photonic Switching and Computing in Future AI and Data Systems
Biography
S. J. Ben Yoo is a Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California at Davis (UC Davis). He is currently leading the 3D EPIC AI Project and the UC Davis part of Northwest-AI Microelectronics Commons Hub under the US CHIPS and Science Act, the ExPlor Project under the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the NanoHybrid project Photonic Processing Activity under US Department of Energy's Micro Microelectronics Science Research Center, and the NaPSAC project under DARPA support. His research at UC Davis includes 2D/3D photonic integration for future computing, cognitive networks, communication, imaging, and navigation systems, micro/nano systems integration, and the future Internet. Prior to joining UC Davis in 1999, he was a Senior Research Scientist at Bellcore, leading technical efforts in integrated photonics, optical networking, and systems integration. His research activities at Bellcore included the next-generation Internet, reconfigurable multiwavelength optical networks (MONET), wavelength interchanging cross connects, wavelength converters, vertical-cavity lasers, and high-speed modulators. He led the MONET testbed experimentation efforts, and participated in ATD/MONET systems integration and a number of standardization activities. Prior to joining Bellcore in 1991, he conducted research on nonlinear optical processes in quantum wells, a four-wave-mixing study of relaxation mechanisms in dye molecules, and ultrafast diffusion-driven photodetectors at Stanford University (BS'84, MS'86, PhD'91, Stanford University). Prof. Yoo is Fellow of IEEE, OSA, NIAC and a recipient of the DARPA Award for Sustained Excellence, the Bellcore CEO Award, the Mid-Career Research Faculty Award (UC Davis), the Senior Research Faculty Award (UC Davis), and numerous best paper awards from IEEE, ACM, and Optica conferences.