Yi-Ren Ng (born September 21, 1979) is a Malaysian American scientist who is an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. He was the founder,

executive chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

and CEO of

Lytro Lytro, Inc. was an American company founded in 2006 by Ren Ng which developed some of the first commercially available light-field cameras. Lytro began shipping its first generation pocket-sized camera, capable of refocusing images after being ta ...

, a

Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, it has a population of 82,376. Mountain View was integral to the early history and growth of Silicon Valley, and is the ...

-based

startup company A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...

. Lytro was developing consumer

light-field camera A light field camera, also known as a plenoptic camera, is a camera that captures information about the ''light field'' emanating from a scene; that is, the intensity of light in a scene, and also the precise direction that the light rays are tr ...

s based on Ng's graduate research at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. Lytro ceased operations in late March 2018.

Biography

Ng was born in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, and immigrated to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

at the age of 9. He earned a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in mathematical and computational science in 2001, an

M.S. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

in computer science in 2002, and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in computer science in 2006, all from Stanford University. His doctoral dissertation, titled ''Digital Light Field Photography'', received the 2006

ACM ACM or A.C.M. may refer to: Aviation * AGM-129 ACM, 1990–2012 USAF cruise missile * Air chief marshal * Air combat manoeuvring or dogfighting * Air cycle machine * Arica Airport (Colombia) (IATA: ACM), in Arica, Amazonas, Colombia Computing * ...

Doctoral Dissertation Award.

Business career

Ng interned at

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

from June 2000 to September 2000 and June 2003 to September 2003 while studying at Stanford.https://www.linkedin.com/in/renng After graduation in 2006, Ng founded

and was CEO for more than six years. On June 29, 2012, Ng announced that he would step aside as CEO in order to spend more time on the vision for the company and less on its day-to-day operations. Ng also would become executive chairman and remain at Lytro full-time.

Charles Chi Charles Chi is an entrepreneur, venture investor, and served as Chancellor of Carleton University from 2011 to 2017. Biography Chi has had a diverse career in engineering, marketing, sales, and executive leadership. Most recently, he has been an ...

, then executive chairman, served as interim CEO until Ng chose former Ning chief Jason Rosenthal as Lytro's new CEO in March 2013 after a lengthy external search.

Academic

In 2013 Ng was awarded the

Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is one of the world's oldest photographic societies. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as the Photographic Society of London with ...

's Selwyn Award given to those under the age of 35 years who have conducted successful science-based research connected with imaging. In July 2015, Ng became an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences at

College of Engineering Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education (bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any advanced education and specializations that ...

References

External links

Lytro - Home

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ng, Ren Malaysian emigrants to Australia Australian emigrants to the United States American chairpersons of corporations Living people Australian chief executives Stanford University School of Engineering alumni UC Berkeley College of Engineering faculty 1979 births American scientists