Rich Baca is a Principal Optical Hardware Engineer at Microsoft working on low-cost server optics and optical connectivity for sustainable AI in the data center. He has over 30 years of experience working with electromagnetics/laser simulation, microwave photonics & MMIC design, high-speed digital optical design working at various companies such as Texas Instruments, Raytheon, Finisar, Tellabs, CommScope and other startups along the way. He has a PhD from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.