Rajeev Ram is an Advisor at Ayar Labs. Rajeev leads the Physical Optics and Electronics (POE) Group at MIT, where he is a Professor of Electrical Engineering. Prior to founding Ayar Labs, he led the MIT lab that made the optical devices in the first processor to communicate with light. He was the Program Director for ARPA-E at the United States Department of Energy from 2010 to 2012, and the Director of Center for Integrated Photonics at MIT from 2004 to 2012. He is also a Founder and Board Member of Pharyx Inc.He holds a Ph.D. from UC Santa Barbara.