Robert R. Alfano received his B.S. in physics from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1963. While working on his Ph.D. at New York University (granted 1972), he worked at the Bayside Center of General Telephone and Electronics. He joined the Department of Physics at the City College of the City University of New York the same year and rose rapidly through the ranks to Professor. On his appointment, Professor Alfano established the Picosecond Laser and Spectroscopy Laboratory with joint funding from the College and the National Science Foundation (now the Institute for ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers, IUSL). He received grant support in 1976 from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research to establish an institute dedicated to the study of ultrafast process materials in the femtosecond to picosecond range. In 1976 the American Institute of Physics chose his research project on photosynthesis and picosecond laser pulses as one of the most significant developments in physics research during the past year. In 1987 he was appointed a Distinguished Professor by the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York.