Viterbi Faculty Directory

Biography

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Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, 1960, U. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL.
Dr. William H. Steier is the W. M. Hogue Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern California. He received the BSEE from the University of Evansville and the MSEE and the Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana. After completion of the PhD in 1960, he became an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Illinois. In 1962 he went to Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, N. J. and remained there as a Member of the Technical Staff until 1968. Those years saw the beginning of fiber optic communications and integrated optics and Professor Steier contributed to that technology. He collaborated on the first demonstration of phase locking of lasers. In 1968, Dr. Steier joined the Electrical Engineering faculty at the University of Southern California where he is currently the W. M. Hogue Professor. At USC he served as Department Chair from 1970 until 1984. He has also held over administrative posts including Director of the Joint Services Electronics Program, co-director of the Center for the Integration of Optical Computing, and principal investigator of the DARPA National Center for Integrated Photonic Technology. His research group has over 300 publications and conference proceedings in several areas including optical communications, optical materials, and nonlinear optics. In recent years, his research has focused on the development of new polymer materials and polymer integrated optical devices for optical communications. In collaboration with the Chemistry faculty, they have brought polymer-based photonics into commercial use. Professor Steier is a Life Fellow of IEEE and a Fellow of the Optical Society of America. In 1985 he received the USC School of Engineering Faculty Service Award and in 1996 he received the USC School of Engineering Senior Faculty Research Award. In 2001 he was awarded the University Associates Award for Creativity in Scholarship and Research. In 2002 he was named a Distinguished Alumni of the EE-CS Department at the University of Illinois.