William H. Hayt, Jr. (deceased) received his B.S. and M.S. degrees at Purdue University and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. After spending four years in industry, Professor Hayt joined the faculty of Purdue University, where he served as professor and head of the School of Electrical Engineering, and as professor emeritus after retiring in 1986. Professor Hayt’s professional society memberships included Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, Sigma Delta Chi, Fellow of IEEE, ASEE, and NAEB. While at Purdue, he received numerous teaching awards, including the university’s Best Teacher Award. He is also listed in Purdue’s Book of Great Teachers, a permanent wall display in the Purdue Memorial Union, dedicated on April 23, 1999. The book bears the names of the inaugural group of 225 faculty members, past and present, who have devoted their lives to excellence in teaching and scholarship. They were chosen by their students and their peers as Purdue’s finest educators.

A native of Los Angeles, California, John A. Buck received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 1977 and 1982, and his B.S. in Engineering from UCLA in 1975. In 1982, he joined the faculty of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech, where he has remained for the past 28 years. His research areas and publications have centered within the fields of ultrafast switching, nonlinear optics, and optical fiber communications. He is the author of the graduate text Fundamentals of Optical Fibers (Wiley Interscience), which is now in its second edition. Awards include three institute teaching awards and the IEEE Third Millenium Medal. When not glued to his computer or confined to the lab, Dr. Buck enjoys music, hiking, and photography.