Born in Kashipur (now in Uttaranchal state) ,Govind P Agrawal graduated from the University of Lucknow with a gold medal. Later on he received the MS and PhD degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, in 1971 and 1974 respectively. After holding positions at the École Polytechnique, Paris; City University of New York, New York; and AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, he joined the University of Rochester in January 1989, where he works as a professor of optics. Dr Agrawal is a Fellow of both the IEEE and the Optical Society of America (OSA). He was a Topical Editor for the Journal of the Optical Society of America (JOSA B) during 1993-98 and is currently serving on the editorial boards of several journals and book series devoted to optics.

Dr Agrawal’s research interests focus on quantum electronics, nonlinear optics, and laser physics. He has made important contributions to the fields of semiconductor lasers, nonlinear fiber optics, and optical communications. He has authored three well-known books: Semiconductor Lasers, Nonlinear Fiber Optics, and Fiber-Optic Communication Systems, and published in 2001 another book, Applications of Nonlinear Fiber Optics. He has also edited Contemporary Nonlinear Optics and Semiconductor Lasers: Past, Present, and Future. He has published more than 300 research papers in various internationally reputed scientific journals. n