SPIE Names 2025 Society Award Winners

SPIE’s Awards Committee has named the recipients of its annual awards, recognizing achievements in photonics research, education, industry, and community leadership. The awards span a broad range of technical and professional areas, including medicine, astronomy, lithography, optical metrology, optical design, and community leadership.

2025 SPIE Gold Medal recipient Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop. Courtesy of SPIE.

Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop is the recipient of the 2025 SPIE Gold Medal for innovations in the transfer of optical angular momentum to matter, using sculpted light for laser manipulation on atomic, nano- and microscales, and providing a powerful probe to biomedicine.

The SPIE President’s Award was given to Bernard Kress in recognition of his service to the photonics industry, particularly micro-optics and wearable displays. The SPIE Director’s Award went to Jess Wade for her public engagement work in STEM, advocacy efforts for women, and the pursuit of eliminating systemic biases surrounding race and gender. John Ballato received the 2025 SPIE Aden & Marjorie Meinel Technology Achievement Award for contributions to the invention, maturation, and application of semiconductor optoelectronic fibers.

For a complete list of award winners, visit www.spie.org.