John P. Prineas earned his B.A. in Physics from Carleton College in Northfield, MN, and his Ph.D. in Physics from The University of Arizona, where he studied light-matter coupling in semiconductor heterostructures with Hyatt Gibbs at Optical Science Center (now College of Optics), and with Jaghdeep Shah at Lucent Technologies.  After doing research at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart with Juergan Kuhl as an Alexander von Humbolt Fellow, he joined the faculty at The University of Iowa in 2001. He is currently a Professor in The Department of Physics and Astronomy, has a secondary appointment in The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and is a member of Iowa CREATES. Additionally, he is Associate Editor for Optical Materials Express, President of Firefly Photonics LLC, and Director of Research Operations for the Department of Physics and Astronomy. John P. Prineas is a Senior Member of the Optical Society of America, a Senior Member of the IEEE, and a Member of the American Physical Society.  He cofounded and is president of the startup company Firefly Photonics, and received the 2019 Recognizing Research and Innovation Excellence Faculty/Staff Startup of the Year Award, and the 2022 Innovator of the Year Award from the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center.