SPIE Taps ’09 Award Winners

Each year SPIE, an international optics and photonics society, recognizes outstanding achievements in the industry through its awards program. This year’s recipients have been selected for their technical accomplishments and meritorious service.

Gold Medal of the Society – Richard Hoover is the 2009 recipient of the Gold Medal of the Society (its highest honor) in recognition of his work in x-ray and EUV optics, ranging from microscopes to telescopes. His full-disk images of the sun in the x-ray and EUV wavelengths are among his many advances for that field. In addition, his interest in the origins of life has led to his long chairmanship of the cross-disciplinary Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology conference. This award is also given in recognition of his dedication and service to optics and to SPIE.

A.E. Conrady Award – Roland Winston, University of California-Merced, is the 2009 recipient of this award in recognition of his achievements in nonimaging optics, as well as in advancing its applications in solar and illumination technology.

Dennis Gabor Award – Rajpal Sirohi, vice-chancellor, Amity University, Rajasthan, India, is the 2009 winner of this award in recognition of his accomplishments in the science and technology of numerous aspects of holography, speckle metrology, interferometry and confocal microscopy.

George W. Goddard Award – This year’s award goes to Neil Gehrels, Astroparticle Physics Laboratory, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, in recognition of his pioneering contributions in opening the gamma-ray spectral window as its own astronomical discipline through his leadership of the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory and the Swift Mission.

Frits Zernike Award in Microlithography – In recognition of his contributions to the development and dissemination of the well-known Prolith suite of lithography simulation software, Chris Mack has been named the 2009 winner of this award. The nomination is also made in recognition of his dedication and success as a teacher and author.

SPIE Early Career Achievement Award – Marc Kuchner, Laboratory for Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, is the 2009 recipient of this year’s award because of his achievements, which, according to SPIE, have greatly facilitated the detection and characterization of extrasolar planets. His invention and refinement of new telescope coronagraph masks provide astronomers with innovative tools needed to detect planets directly around bright stars.

SPIE Educator Award – Fenna Hanes, New England Board of Higher Education, has been named winner of this year’s award because of her enthusiasm for optics/photonics technology. Hanes has fostered the growth of optics education in secondary schools and colleges throughout the US.

SPIE Technology Achievement Award – James G. Grote, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, is the 2009 recipient of this award in recognition of his contributions in photonics engineering technology through his inception and significant accomplishments in the new field of biotronics – biopolymer-based photonic and electronic materials and devices.

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