New SPIE Fellows

SPIE has named 58 new Fellows of the Society this year, recognizing the significant scientific and technical contributions of each in optics, photonics, and imaging as well as their service to the Society and the greater community. More than 1000 SPIE members from around the world have become Fellows since the Society’s inception in 1955.

SPIE Fellows Committee chair Majid Rabbani of Eastman Kodak Research Labs (USA) and Rochester Institute of Technology (USA) noted that the 2015 Fellows “exemplify the full diversity of the photonics community in terms of vocational orientation, geography, and gender.”

For instance, the recognition of Babak Parviz of Amazon Web Services (USA), who helped develop Google Glass, exemplifies the impact of photonics in a variety of industries, says SPIE Fellow and Board Member James Grote of the Air Force Research Lab (USA).

“Companies like Google and Amazon make extensive use of optics, photonics, and optical/photonics networks,” noted Grote, who nominated Parviz. “SPIE and companies like these are partners in photonics and there is much we can contribute to each other.”

Two of the new Fellows, Betty Lise Anderson of Ohio State University (USA) and Judith Donnelly of Three Rivers Community College (USA), were honored for significant achievements in optics education outreach.

Anderson has worked with underprivileged K-12 students in photonics and optics engineering projects, and Donnelly pioneered the development of problem-based learning approaches to teaching photonics.

Nobel Laureate William Moerner of Stanford University (USA) joins the ranks of other SPIE Fellows who were Nobel Prize winners, including the late laser pioneer Charles Townes. A co-recipient of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Moerner founded the field of single-molecule optical nanoscience.

New SPIE Fellow C. Matt Mountain of the Space Telescope Science Institute (USA) was nominated by Nobel Laureate and SPIE Fellow John Mather of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (USA). Both are currently involved with the James Webb Space Telescope project.

New Fellows are recognized at SPIE meetings of their choice throughout the year. This year, new Fellows are being inducted at SPIE Photonics West, Advanced Lithography, Medical Imaging, Smart Structures/NDE, Optics+Optoelectronics, DSS, and Optics+Photonics.

A list of the 2015 SPIE Fellows and their achievements can be found at spie.org/fellows.

SPIE will accept nominations for the next class of SPIE Fellows through 15 September.

Nominees are evaluated on technical accomplishments in optics, photonics, and imaging, including publications and patents; service to the general optics community in the form of volunteer work at science fairs, as an editor or technical reviewer, etc.; and service to SPIE.

Eligibility requires 10 years of cumulative SPIE membership, excluding student membership. Starting in 2016, for the 2017 class of Fellows, eligibility will also include being an SPIE Senior Member.

Nominations of members working in industry are encouraged.

Nomination materials for candidates who are not elected the first time they are nominated are automatically considered in the next two years.

More information on SPIE Fellows.

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