Associate professor of optics and SPIE Fellow Julie Bentley was honored with the University of Rochester's 2014 Goergen Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching.
The award recognizes the distinctive teaching accomplishments and skills of faculty in arts, sciences, and engineering. Two other faculty members received the award, in addition to Bentley. Rochester alumnus, trustee, and former board chairman Robert B. Goergen and his wife, Pamela, sponsor the award.
The chairs of their academic departments formally recognized the three recipients at a reception on 15 October.
Bentley started her career at the university's Institute of Optics as an undergraduate student, and there she received her BS, MS, and doctorate degrees. After graduating, she spent 14 years working for corporations designing optical systems and micro lithographic inspection systems. In 1998, she returned to Rochester to teach geometrical optics, optical design, and tolerancing.
Bentley was elected to the SPIE Board of Directors, with her term beginning in 2015. She was nominated for the 2014 Technology Woman of the Year by Digital Rochester in April. She is the co-author of the SPIE Field Guide to Lens Design (2012), a book that provides physicists, engineers, and scientists a reference for deciphering the nuances of lens design.
She is the co-author of two papers published recently in Optical Engineering:
• "Design of radial gradient-index lenses for dual-band visible to short-wave infrared imaging systems"
• "Fabrication of large-diameter radial gradient-index lenses by ion exchange of Na+ for Li+ in titania silicate glass"
In the 2010 Women in Optics (WiO) planner, Bentley described her typical day working at Rochester and offered words of wisdom for undergraduates.
For more information:
• 2010 WiO Planner
• Field guide to lens design
• Julie Bentley profile on SPIE.org
• University of Rochester press release
SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1955 to advance light-based technologies. The Society serves nearly 256,000 constituents from approximately 155 countries, offering conferences, continuing education, books, journals, and a digital library in support of interdisciplinary information exchange, professional networking, and patent precedent. SPIE provided more than $3.2 million in support of education and outreach programs in 2013.
