He received his master's (1970) and doctorate (1971) degrees in materials science and engineering, in a record time, from the University of California, Berkeley, after his Bachelor's degree (Distinction and Highest Honors) in 1969 form IIT , Kanpur, India. He worked briefly (1971-72) as Research Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and the University of California , Berkeley , before joining Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1972.He worked as Senior Scientist and headed Thin Film and Electron Microscopy research group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He joined North Carolina State University in 1984 as Senior Professor and Director of Microelectronics Center of North Carolina. In 1990, he was appointed by National Science Foundation, the Director of Division of Materials Research (1990-92), where he received NSF Distinguished Service Award for his exceptional leadership in materials research. Professor Narayan has published more than 1,000 scientific papers, edited nine books and obtained more than 34 patents. He is internationally known for his contributions in thin film epitaxy, defects and interfaces, nanostructured materials, laser processing, semiconductor doping and novel materials, which led to three IR-100 Awards from Industrial Research Magazine (now R&D Magazine) for new materials and technologies. He has received Fellowship honors from eight prestigious professional societies: American Physical Society, AAAS, ASM-International, TMS, MRS-I, National Academy of Sciences, Inaugural MRS Fellow, and Bohmische Physikalische Gesellschaft, 1999 ASM Gold Medal, 2004 Edward DeMille Campbell Memorial Lecture and Campbell Prize. He has delivered over 200 Invited lectures and graduated over 57 PhDs who are employed in leading universities, national labs and industry.

* The Chair is named after Dr. John Fan, CEO and Founding Board Chair of Kopin Corporation