Currently, he is a full professor in the Department of Computer Science at Georgia State University. Prior to his current position, he was a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Dayton, Ohio.

His research interests include parallel and distributed computing, optical networks, wireless networks, and bioinformatics. His research sponsors included National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Air Force Office for Scientific Research, U. S. Air Force, International Information Science Foundation, Japan Society for Promotion of Science, the States of Georgia and Ohio.

Dr. Pan has published more than 80 journal papers with 24 papers published in various IEEE journals. In addition, he has published over 90 papers in refereed conferences (including IPDPS, ICPP, ICDCS, INFOCOM, and GLOBECOM). He has also co-edited 13 books (including proceedings) and contributed several book chapters. His pioneer work on computing using reconfigurable optical buses has inspired extensive subsequent work by many researchers, and his research results have been cited by more than 100 researchers worldwide in books, theses, journal and conference papers. He is a co-inventor of three U.S. patents (pending) and 5 provisional patents.

Dr. Pan has served as an editor-in-chief or editorial board member for 8 journals including 3 IEEE Transactions and a guest editor for 7 special issues. He has organized several international conferences and workshops and has also served as a program committee member for many major international conferences.

Dr. Pan has received many awards including Visiting Researcher Support Program Award from the International Information Science Foundation based in Japan (2001), Outstanding Scholarship Award of the College of Arts and Sciences at University of Dayton (1999), Invitation Fellowship from Japan Society for Promotion of Science (1998), Recognition Award from the International Association of Science and Technology for Development (1998), AFOSR Summer Faculty Research Fellowship (1997), IEEE Senior Member (1997), Research Opportunity Award from U. S. National Science Foundation (1994 and 1996), Best Paper Award at PDPTA '96 (1996), and Andrew Mellon Fellowship from Mellon Foundation (1990).

Dr. Pan has delivered over 40 invited talks, including keynote speeches and colloquium talks, at conferences and universities worldwide. Dr. Pan is an IEEE Distinguished Speaker (2000-2002), a Yamacraw Distinguished Speaker (2002), a Shell Oil Colloquium Speaker (2002), and a senior member of IEEE. He is listed in Men of Achievement, Who's Who in Midwest, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Education, and Who's Who in Computational Science and Engineering.

Dr. Pan and his wife have two daughters, Marissa and Anna. They live in Atlanta, Georgia.