The Institute of Optics – 2012 in Review

January April

Xi‐Cheng Zhang joins The Brian Thompson, former director Institute as the new of the Institute and a professor Director and M. Parker emeritus of optics, receives the Givens Professor of Optics. 2011 Engineer of the Year by the Rochester Engineering Society.

February May Professor Julie Bentley is Joseph Eberly, the Andrew accepted as a SPIE fellow for Carnegie Professor of Physics developing new courses in lens and Professor of Optics, is design. announced as the recipient of the 2012 Distinguished Service

Award from the Optical Society. James Fienup, the Robert E.

Hopkins Professor of Optics, PhD candidate Cristina Canavesi is elected to the National is a member of the winning team Academy of Engineering for in the University’s Mark Ain his work in the development Business Model Competition. and application of phase retrieval algorithms. Optics’ Graduate students Rebecca Berman,

Shawn Divitt and Dan Williams, (with 2 Institute students win accolades the others) spent late May through late June in Wavefront Congress in San Diego. Africa as part of the University's Integrative Ramkumar Sabesan wins the Founder's Graduate Education and Research Award (best invited talk) and Len Traineeship (IGERT) program. Their many Zheleznyak wins the Best Presented Free experiences included introducing school Paper Award. children to

optics concepts March via one of Prof. Stephen Jacobs' Optics Suitcases; presenting at an International Solar Energy Experts Workshop and bringing solar panels to a small health clinic Optics wins the 2nd annual Photon Cup and one-room school. against Physics (6‐2) !! June August An article by Prof. Jim Fienup (see Scientists from over 20 countries attend the February as well) comes in fourth on a list of 8th International Conference on Photo- the 50 most cited articles in the 50-year Excited Processes and Applications at The history of the journal Applied Optics. Institute, hosted by Prof. Chunlei Guo.

170th Birthday Celebration for Emil Wolf (90) and Brian Thompson (80) hosted by Provost Ralph

Kuncl and Duncan Moore

Ninety-one domestic and international participants, representing 38 companies, Five of our graduate students—Matthew attend The Institute’s 51st annual Summer Bergkoetter, Kyle Fuerschbach, Leva School Short-Course Series. McIntire, Brent Plansinis, and Travis Petersen—receive Frank Horton Fellowships Kathleen Adelsberger, a PhD from the Laboratory of Laser Energetics. candidate, is awarded a National Physical Science Consortium September fellowship. David Williams, the William G. Allyn Professor PhD candidate Cristina Canavesi (see May of Medical Optics, receives as well) wins SPIE’s Bill Price and Warren the Antonio Champalimaud Smith Optical Design and Engineering Vision Award at a ceremony Scholarship. chaired by the president of Portugal in Lisbon. The Institute welcomes George Fraley back to campus for lunch Prof. Govind Agrawal receives and a proclamation the IEEE Photonics Society’s of George Fraley prestigious Quantum Electronics Day on June 6. Award during the group’s annual conference in San Francisco. July When Google lists its 12 most- The Center for Freeform Optics is awarded cited books about physics, a quarter of them a National Science Foundation planning grant. are by Professors Govind Agrawal, Robert Boyd, and Emil Wolf, all members of the Corning Inc., hosts Institute students at its Institute’s faculty. global headquarters (about 100 miles southeast of Rochester), providing tours and Professor Robert Boyd, who networking. holds a special position sharing his time between Rochester and the University of Ottawa, dedicates his Photonics Center at Ottawa with a $55 million building. Duncan Moore, the Rudolf November and Hilda Kingslake Professor of Optical The role of former Institute director Engineering, is recognized Robert Hopkins in pioneering for his outstanding record entrepreneurship is highlighted in a of research, teaching, and Democrat and Chronicle article based on a leadership with the Hajim study by Duncan Moore, professor of School's 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award. optical engineering, and Susanna Virgilio, a project assistant at the University’s Center for October Entrepreneurship. Optical Society December holds annual meeting in Rochester. Prof. Mehul Malik, PhD candidate with the Boyd Emil Wolf is Quantum Photonics Research Group, is th honored for his 90 highlighted in an online MIT Technology birthday. Institute Review article about his research using the graduate students Wei Jiang, Mehul Malik quantum properties of and Robin Sharma win three of the seven photons to create best paper awards named in Wolf’s honor; unjammable aircraft Peter McCarthy receives a prestigious detection. scholarship.

During OSA, the This is only a sampling of the many happenings current and former Directors of the during 2012 within The Institute. As you can tell, Rochester, Arizona we had a phenomenal year in 2012, and look and Orlando Optics forward to much more excitement and opportunity Institutes’ gathered in 2013. While I have done my best to highlight our for a Leaders Lunch. faculty, students, and corporate partners in this note, I would be remiss if I did not add my personal

thanks to all our alumni, friends, and members of A $1.9 million federal grant, our Industrial Affiliates program, who have been awarded to the Center for more than generous this past year in supporting our Emerging and Innovative efforts. Thank you all! Sciences, will fund the Rochester Regional Optics, We would welcome hearing from you. As part of the Photonics, and Imaging rich heritage that makes our Institute so stellar, you Accelerator (RRPA) program. are the foundation that allows us to progress into the Principal investigators will bright future. Please, keep in touch. include Jannick Rolland, the Brian J. Thompson Professor of Cheers and Meliora! Optical Engineering, and Gary Wicks, professor of optics. Xi-Cheng Zhang