Yasuhiko Arakawa received B.S., M.S., and PhD degrees in the electrical engineering form the University of Tokyo, in 1975, 1977, 1980, respectively. In 1980, he started his academic carrier by joining University of Tokyo as an assistant professor and was promoted to a full professor in 1993. He is now Professor of Research Center for Advanced Science and technology, University of Tokyo.

He is also the director of Nanoelectronics Research Center at Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo as well as Research Professor at NTT. His current research includes growth and physics of semiconductor nanotechnologies for optoelectronic device applications such as quantum dot lasers and various nanostructure devices.

He is the recipient of many awards including Niwa Memorial Award, Excellent Paper Award from IECE, Young Scientist Award, International Symposium on GaAs and Related Compound Semiconductors, IBM Award, Distinguished Achievement Award from IEICE, Hattori Hoko Award, Sakura-Kenjiro Award from OITDA, Electronics Award from IEICE, and Nissan Science Award.

He has been serving several distinguished international conferences as general chairs including the 17th IEEE Semiconductor Laser Conference . He was Associate Editor of IEEE J. of Quantum Electronics and Editor in Chief of Journal of Japanese Society of Applied Physics, and he is currently Editor in Chief of Solid Sate Electronics and Regional Editor on New Journal of Physics(IOP). He is in charge for planning the optoelectronics technology-roadmap at the OITDA.