Armand R. Tanguay, Jr. received the B.S. degree in Physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1971, and the M.S., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees in Engineering and Applied Science from Yale University in 1972, 1975, and 1977. He came to the University of Southern California in 1977, and is currently Professor of Electrical Engineering, Materials Science, and Biomedical Engineering, and a Voting Member of the Neuroscience Graduate Program.

At USC he has served as Director of both the Center for Photonic Technology and the Center for Neural Engineering, as well as Deputy Director and Associate Director for Research of the Integrated Media Systems Center, a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center (ERC) in multimedia and creative technologies. He is a member of the Society for Values in Higher Education, devoted to the interaction of teaching and scholarship, and a Fellow of both the Optical Society of America and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Professor Tanguay is currently the Principal Investigator for the DDR&E/ARO-sponsored Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative on Adaptive Optoelectronic Eyes: Hybrid Sensor/Processor Architectures, which involves eight faculty members spanning the physiology and psychology of vision through electronic/photonic packaging and implementation hardware.

Prof. Tanguay's fundamental objectives in teaching include the promotion of interdisciplinary cooperation in both teaching and research, the development of new courses and academic programs to support newly emerging academic disciplines, the origination and implementation of challenging teaching concepts, the attainment of the highest possible standards of excellence, the achievement of collegiality with integrity, and the advancement of the collective enterprise.

As a CET Faculty Fellow he has continued to focus on improving the art of classroom presentation, the intimate coupling of teaching and scholarship, the effective use of multimedia in courses, the incorporation of a design philosophy, the wider availability of mentoring through consulting experiences, and the expansion of the University's teaching into the greater community.

Prof. Tanguay was given a Teacher of the Year award in 2002 by the USC Latter Day Saint Student Association (LDSSA).