Hongping Zhao is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Ohio State University. Prior this, Zhao was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Case Western Reserve University. She received her PhD in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh University. Her research interests lie in the area of wide bandgap and ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor materials and devices. Her current research focuses on the material synthesis and device physics of III-nitrides, II-IV-nitrides, Ga2O3, ZnO and etc. Zhao has published more than 54 refereed journal and 90 refereed conference papers. She serves as an editorial board member of the journal Optics since 2013. She is currently serving as the technical program committee for CLEO, and the invited organizer for EMC.