Peter Delfyett (NAE) is University Distinguished Professor, Pegasus Professor and Trustee Chair Professor of Optics, EE & Physics in CREOL, The College of Optics and Photonics, and is currently serving as the Director of the Townes Laser Institute at the University of Central Florida. In 2003, Dr. Delfyett founded “Raydiance, Inc.” a spin-off company developing high power, ultrafast laser systems, based on his research, for applications in medicine, consumer electronics, defense, material processing, biotechnology, automotive and other key technological markets.  In addition to being an NAE member, he is the recipient of numerous awards and is a fellow of the APS, IEEE, NAI, NSBP, OSA, and SPIE.  He has nearly 4 decades of experience in the area of ultrafast laser technology and related applications, with over 800 scientific publications, conference proceedings and invited presentations, and 44 US patents.  In addition, he has served on major committees (NAS’s Committee on Atomic Molecular and Optical Science – CAMOS, NSF’s LIGO Review Panel, NRC’s NIST EEEL Assessment Panel (Chair)) and has served on the board of several optics-related professional societies (OSA, IEEE-Photonics, APS Divisions of Laser Science (Chair), National Society of Black Physicists (President)).  Dr. Delfyett received a B.E. (E.E.) degree from the City University of New York (CUNY), an M.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Rochester, and M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees from CUNY.