Professor Richard Penty Elected as the 27th Master of the College

Sidney Sussex College is delighted to announce the election of Professor Richard Penty MA, PhD, FREng, as its 27th Master to succeed Professor Andrew Wallace-Hadrill in July 2013.

Professor Penty is currently a Fellow and Vice-Master of Sidney Sussex College and a distinguished electrical and electronic engineer.

After reading engineering and electrical sciences as an undergraduate (with a First in Part IA, Part IB and Part II) and post-graduate student at Sidney, Professor Penty was elected to a Junior Research Fellowship in Pembroke College Cambridge.

He subsequently moved to Lectureships in Bath and Bristol Universities culminating in the Chair of Photonics in Bristol, before returning to Cambridge where he has been Professor of Photonics since 2002. His current research interests include optical data communications, MMF systems (digital and analogue), high-speed optical communications systems, optical amplifiers, and optical switching. He was elected to a Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2012.

On his election, Professor Penty writes, "It is a great honour to be elected as Sidney's next Master, and I look forward to serving the Fellows, Students and Staff of the College to the best of my ability."

The College looks forward to welcoming Richard, his wife Victoria and their children to the heart of Sidney.

This is an archived news story, first posted in 2013.