Pavel Cheben began his studies in microelectronics and optoelectronics at the Slovak Technical University, followed by a PhD degree at the Complutense University of Madrid. Ever since, his career has been full of remarkable successes and important scientific contributions. Dr. Cheben was one of the lead scientists starting up Optenia Inc. where he developed the first commercial echelle-grating telecom multiplexer.

Before joining the NRC, he was with the National Institute for Aerospace Technology of the Ministry of Defense in Spain, where he was responsible for the establishment of the Laboratory of Space Instrumentation. Currently, he is a Principal Research Officer at the NRC Canada and also an Honorary Professor at University of Malaga, Adjunct Professor at Carleton University, McMaster University and University of Ottawa, and Guest Professor at University of Zilina.

He has co-authored more than 500 journal and conference papers, has 33 patent applications and over 220 invited presentations at scientific conferences and word research centers. His achievements were presented in many press releases, including Nature, New York Times, Nature Science Update, Physics Today and many others. Dr. Cheben holds several important awards, including the highest honour in Slovak Republic, bestowed by the President of Slovakia, and the International Prize of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. For his outstanding scientific contributions he has been elected to the highest Fellow rank by several prestigious academic societies, including the American Physical Society, the European Optical Society, the Optical Society of America, the Institute of Physics (United Kingdom), the Engineering Institute of Canada, and the Canadian Academy of Engineering.