Lian-Kuan Chen received his BSc degree from National Taiwan University in 1983 and MSc and PhD degree from Columbia University in 1987 and 1992 respectively, all in electrical engineering. He worked at Jerrold Communication, General Instruments (GI), USA in 1990-1991 and engaged in research on linear lightwave video distribution systems, with contributions on the distortion reduction schemes for various optical components. He joined the Department of Information Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1992 and initiated the Lightwave Communications Laboratory. He served as the Department chairman from January 2004 to July 2006. His current interests include Next Generation Access Networks, Advanced Modulation Format and Signal Processing, Optical Performance Monitoring and Management, Network Optimization, and Biophotonics. He has published more than 250 papers in international conferences and journals. He is currently the director of Centre for Advanced Research in Photonics (CARP). He has been an Associate Editor of IEEE Photonics Technology Letters from 2005 to 2011 and an Associate Editor of OSA/IEEE Journal of Optical Communications and Networking from 2012 to present. For his name's sake (in Chinese), he believes he will continue to engage in research related to Light in the foreseeable future.

Next Generation Access Networks Advanced Modulation Formats and Signal Processing Optical Performance Monitoring and Management Network Optimization, and Biophotonics