Xiang (Alex) Meng is an Associate Professor of Professional Practice in the Electrical Engineering at Columbia University. He completed his Ph.D. at Columbia University. Before joining SEAS, he was a Senior Member of Technical Staff at SubCom (Tyco Telecom), designing long-haul undersea coherent transoceanic networks. His research focuses on designing novel photonic components, optical systems, and network technologies. He is also experienced with digital signal processing, optical coherent communications, and the innovative process for electronic-photonic design automation for photonic integrated circuits.