Yanne Chembo became director of the University of Maryland’s Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics (IREAP) on July 1, 2022. On that date, he was also promoted to professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Prior to joining UMD in January 2019 as an associate professor, Chembo was research director at the Georgia Tech–CNRS (French Center for Scientific Research) Joint Research Laboratory, where he explored nonlinear, quantum and stochastic phenomena in optoelectronics, microwave photonics and laser physics. At UMD, he applies his research to aerospace and communication engineering systems.

Chembo is a fellow of Optica (formerly the Optical Society of America), the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE), and the American Physical Society. He also serves as an elected member of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Photonics Society. He has authored more than 170 articles published in international journals and conference proceedings.

He previously held positions at the FEMTO-ST Institute (Franche-Comté Electronics Mechanics Thermal Science and Optics–Sciences and Technologies Institute) in France, and the Quantum Science and Technology Group of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech. After earning bachelor’s degrees in physics and telecommunications engineering, Chembo earned a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Yaoundé in Cameroon and a second Ph.D. in photonics from the University of the Balearic Islands in Spain.