Warde was born in Christ Church, Barbados. His mother was Rosetta Irene Ward. He attended St. Christopher’s Primary School and Harrison College. During school, Warde was involved with athletics. He converted his father's carpentry shop into a chemistry laboratory, where he built rockets with his friends from high school. Warde graduated from Harrison College in 1965, when he moved to America to start his undergraduate studies. Warde was a physics major at Stevens Institute of Technology, which he graduated in 1969. Warde was a brother in Pi Lambda Phi and played varsity soccer. Warde moved to Yale University for his graduate studies, where he worked on the refractive index of solid oxygen films, and earned his doctorate in 1974. At Yale University Warde developed a new interferometer that could operate close to absolute zero.
Research and career
Warde was appointed to the faculty at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1974. He was one of the first minority faculty members, and one of the first black tenured professors. He was promoted to Professor of Electrical Engineering in 1982. He worked on the applications of optics to engineering, including optical computing, wireless communication and holography. He developed optical neural network processes to power computers and membrane-mirror based spatial light modulators for optical switching. His research is supported by the National Science Foundation. He founded Optron Systems in 1982, a start-up incubator that developed MicroElectroMechanical Systems displays. Optron Systems specialised in optoelectronic systems, which use light for information processing. He didn't hire his first employee until 1983, raising all the money himself from teaching and consulting, and was worth $3 million in 1986. In 1999 he co-founded Radiant Images, Inc, that created liquid-crystalVLSI displays. Radiant Images was acquired by Hoya Corporation. At MIT, Warde has served as Faculty Director of the Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science program since 1997. The program is a six-week long program for gifted students from underrepresented minority students. He served as editor of The Journal of Display Technology and is a Fellow of The Optical Society. Alongside his research, Warde works with the Caribbean government to build economic development in the Caribbean. He serves as the Government of Barbados scientific advisor. He is the interim executive director of the Caribbean Diaspora for Science, Technology & Innovation. He is the Executive Director of the Caribbean Science Foundation. He has worked with the United States Department of State and Imperial College London on programs that support science and engineering to school students. In 2018 Warde established the Rosetta Irene Ward Memorial Scholarship Fund, which supports the higher education of students from English speaking Caribbean countries.
Awards and honours
His awards and honours include;
2017 Stevens Institute of Technology Distinguished Alumni Award
2014 Barbados Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence
2007 Institute of Caribbean Studies Caribbean American Heritage Award
