2006 Kidger Scholarship Awarded

Blair L. Unger has been selected to receive the 2006 Michael Kidger Memorial Scholarship in Optical Design. The scholarship consists of a $5000 cash award, partially supported by Qioptiq Ltd. (St. Asaph, UK).

Unger is a graduate student at the University of Rochester's Institute of Optics (Rochester, NY). Advised by SPIE Fellow Duncan Moore, Unger's doctoral research concerns examining diffractive and dispersive spectrographic systems for use in astronomical applications. He plans to study new optical design methods applicable to two or more mirrors or refractive elements combined with existing grating designs.

The memorial scholarship is awarded annually to a student of optical design, and was established in 1998 to honor Michael John Kidger, a well-respected educator, design software developer, and member of the optical science and engineering community.

This is an independent scholarship administered by a select committee of leading optical designers and the Michael Kidger family.

To learn more about the scholarship, visit the Kidger Optics Associates website at www.kidger.com.