Ni Chen, Ph.D.

My academic journey has taken me across continents — from the University of Hong Kong, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (China), to Seoul National University (South Korea), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Saudi Arabia), and the University of Arizona (United States).

This international trajectory shaped a research identity that is inherently interdisciplinary, spanning EEE/ECE, Computer Science, Physics, and Optics. My core philosophy is: identifying the fundamental mechanisms behind challenging problems and pursuing solutions that transcend disciplinary boundaries.

Navigating the transition from computer science to optics, and working across diverse research environments — led me naturally toward bridging the sim-to-real gap in computational imaging, and into early work on Differentiable Imaging.

For research inquiries, reach me at nichen.optics@gmail.com.

---

Education

• Ph.D., OEQE Lab, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Seoul National University, Advisor: Prof. Byoungho Lee.
• M.E., OIP Lab, Computer and Communication Engineering, Chungbuk National University, Advisors: Prof. Nam Kim and Prof. Jae-Hyeung Park.
• B.E., Computer Software Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology (Weihai).

---

Professional Activities

• 2026: Program Committee of OPTICA topical meeting, Digital Holography and 3D Imaging (DH)
• 2025: Program Committee of FiO LS Congress: Information Acquisition, Processing and Display
• 2025: Program Committee of OPTICA topical meeting, Digital Holography and 3D Imaging (DH)
• 2024 - : Associate Editor of Optics Continuum
• 2024 - : Associate Editor of Advanced Imaging
• 2024 - : Guest Editor of Journal of Optics - Focus Issue on Computational Imaging and Its Applications
• 2024: Program Committee of OPTICA topical meeting, Digital Holography and 3D Imaging (DH)
• 2024: Program Committee of OPTICA Imaging Congress - Computational Optical Sensing and Imaging (COSI)
• 2023: Session Chair of FiO LS Congress: Fabrication, Design and Instrumentation
• 2023: Program Committee of OPTICA Imaging Congress - Computational Optical Sensing and Imaging (COSI)
• 2023: Program Committee of Imaging Congress - Digital Holography and 3D Imaging (DH)
• 2022: Session Chair of Advances in Holography of Computational Optical Sensing and Imaging (COSI)
• 2022: Guest Associate Editor of Optics Express - Augmented and Virtual Reality: Optics & Photonics
• 2022: Program Committee of OPTICA topical meeting, Digital Holography and 3D Imaging (DH)
• 2021 - 2023: Executive committee of OPTICA Technical Group: Optics in Digital Systems (ID)
• 2021.05 -: Guest Associate Editor of Frontiers in Photonics – Research Topic of 3D/4D Optical Imaging and Displays
• 2021: Session Chair of Digital Holography and 3D Imaging
• 2021: Program Committee of OSA topical meeting, Digital Holography and 3D Imaging
• 2020: Program Committee of OSA topical meeting, Digital Holography and 3D Imaging
• 2018.02 - 2020.02: Committee of OSA Technical Group: Image Sensing and Pattern Recognition (IR)
• 2017.10: Program Secretary of SPIE Optoelectronic Imaging / Spectroscopy and Signal Processing Technology, Optical Instrument and Technology (OIT’ 2017)
• 2017.09: Program Secretary of Xiangshan science conference: “Computational Optical Imaging – Opportunities and Challenges”
• 2017.06 - : Topic Editor of Acta Optica Sinica

• 2013.05 - : Reviewer

  Optics Community

  • - Biomedical Optical Express, Optics Letters, Optics Express, Applied Optics, Journal of Optical Society of America A
  • - Transactions on Computational Imaging / Instrumentation and Measurement / Industrial Informatics, Access, Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, Photonics Journal
  • - Nature, Nature Nanotechnology, Scientific Reports
  • - Reports on Progress in Physics
  • - Optics Engineering
  • - Review of Scientific Instruments, Applied Physics Letters
  • - Laser & Photonics Reviews, ETRI Journal
  • - Measurements, Optics and Lasers in Engineering, Optics Communications, Optik, Results in Optics, Applied Physics B, Optics and Laser Technology
  • - Applied Science
  • - Journal of Information Display
  • - Light: Advanced Manufacturing
  • - Chinese Journal of Lasers, Acta Optica Sinica
  • - NSFC

  Other Communities

  • - Siggraph, Transactions on Graphics
  • - NeurIPS
• 2009~: Member of Optical Society of Korea (OSK), Optical Society of America (OSA), International Society of Photo-Optical Engineers (SPIE)

---

Honors and Awards

• Senior Member of OPTICA, Jun. 2022
• Finalists (5/300), Resilience Challenge of Winter Enrichment Program (WEP), Jan. 2022
• Student Paper Award, International Optical Design Conference of OPTICA, Jul. 2021
• Best Paper Award, Chinese Laser Press, Sep. 2017
• Special awards, NCRCAPS Lab., Seoul National University, Korea, Dec. 2012
• Outstanding Poster Paper Award, 12th International Meeting on Information Display, Aug. 2012
• Outstanding Paper Award, 18th Conference on Optoelectronics and Optical Communication, May 2011
• Brain Korea 21 Outstanding Master Course Student, Chungbuk National University, Feb. 2010
• Outstanding Graduates Award, Harbin Institute Technology University, Jul. 2008
• National Encouragement Scholarship, China, Sep. 2007
• National Scholarship, China, Mar. 2006