2014 Harold E. Edgerton Award

SPIE member Jeff Squier of the Colorado School of Mines (USA) is the recipient of the 2014 Harold E. Edgerton Award in recognition of his seminal contributions to femtosecond lasers and amplifiers, laser filamentation, ultrafast spectroscopy, femtosecond micromachining, ophthalmic procedures with ultrafast lasers, and high-speed nonlinear optical microscopy.

“Working with Jeff was like watching an optics magician work miracles even though we knew it was based on his rigorous training in femtosecond-laser technology, combined with keen intelligence and a driving curiosity to explore new frontiers in optics,” said Paul Wiseman of McGill University (Canada), who worked with Squier at University of California, San Diego (USA).

“Jeff is not just a brilliant scientist, but also a very supportive mentor who really cared for the people who worked for him.”

His scientific achievements include demonstrating the first ti:sapphire-based regenerative amplifier for high-energy, ultrashort-pulse generation at the University of Rochester (USA).

His work at UC San Diego featured the first demonstration of time-resolved x-ray diffraction using a femtosecond-laser-produced plasma source and pioneering studies of multiphoton microscopy for bioimaging.

Squier also made significant contributions to nonlinear optical imaging by introducing a method to simultaneously capture nonlinear optical images from multiple depths.

Squier served on the program committee for the Commercial and Biomedical Applications of Ultrafast Lasers conference at SPIE Photonics West for several years. He has also served on the SPIE Awards Committee and has been published in the SPIE Journal of Biomedical Optics.

SPIE presents several annual awards that honor individual and team technical accomplishments in optics and photonics and service to the Society.

Nominations may be made through 1 October and remain active for three years from the submission date, except for the SPIE Early Career Achievement Award and the Goodman Book Writing Award.

Nominations must be accompanied by:

• Nomination form
• Citation stating the accomplishments of nominee
• Description of the significant aspects of nominee's career
• Curriculum vitae listing educational background, positions held, publications, awards, honors, activities, and offices held within SPIE
• At least two letters of reference, not from the nominator

SPIE President H. Philip Stahl will present the 2014 Society awards Wednesday, 20 August, at the annual awards banquet in San Diego, CA (USA). Tickets to the 7:30 pm event are $90 and can be purchased with registration or on site at SPIE Optics + Photonics.

Learn more about SPIE annual awards.

• Have a question or comment about this article? Write to us at spieprofessional@spie.org.
• To receive a print copy of SPIE Professional, the SPIE member magazine, become an SPIE member.