Polaroid Corp. has appointed Hemang D. Dave as vice president of new ventures. Dave had been president and CEO of CMG Direct Interactive in Andover, Mass. Roy Grayzel is the new products development manager for Acton Research Corp.'s Optical Instrumentation Div. Mark Fitch has been appointed vice president of marketing and sales at LightPath Tech-nologies Inc. He was formerly vice president of operations for precision optics supplier Geltech and a chief engineer at Corning. Breault Research Organization has added Rob Hubbard to its new customer service department. Gregg G. Gundersen is the recipient of the 1997 Nikon Inc./Marine Biological Laboratory research fellowship. Gundersen, an associate professor at Columbia University, has done extensive studies on cell locomotion. Ortel Corp. has promoted P.C. Chen to the position of vice president of laser technologies. Michael R. Carter has been appointed vice president of sales for Fiber Optic Center Inc. As part of Nissei Sangyo America Ltd.'s reorganization of its Scientific Instruments Div., Les Sunada has assumed the post of director of the new sales administration group. Henry Shii has become general manager for Nihon Veeco KK. Media Cybernetics L.P. has named Doug Paxson as the company's executive vice president. Germanow-Simon Corp. has added Michael Lang and Timothy Warner to its staff. Lang is an applications engineer, and Warner is customer service coordinator. KLA-Tencor Corp. has appointed Stan Yarbro as vice president and general manager of the Surface Metrology Div. Yarbro was most recently president of Park Scientific Instruments. Dennis J. Fortino, formerly of the Surface Metrology Div., will head the Unpatterned Surfscan Div. as vice president and general manager. Both had previously worked at Spectra-Physics Lasers Inc. Five photonics researchers funded by the National Science Foundation received Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers. They are Daniel P. Lathrop of Emory University, for work on nonlinear properties of fluid interfaces; Jon P. Longtin of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, for research on laser-liquid interactions; Timothy A. McKay of the University of Michigan, for contributions to a major optical sky survey; Steven W. McLaughlin of the Georgia Institute of Technology, for developing optical recording systems; and Eileen M. Spain of Occidental College, for contributions to the synthesis of thin films. Mark Tatkow has assumed the post of vice president of sales for Acuity Imaging Inc. The company also has promoted Noel V. Coletti Jr. to vice president of marketing. Coletti will market Acuity's machine vision and symbology products. The Optical Society of America has elected a new vice president: Erich Ippen of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech-nology. Connie J. Chang-Hasnain of the University of California at Berkeley, Peter F. Moulton, senior vice president of Schwartz Electro-Optics, and Eric Van Stryland of the University of Central Florida were elected at-large members of the 1998 board of directors. Malvin C. Teich, professor of physics and of electrical, computer and biomedical engineering at Boston University, is the recipient of the 1997 IEEE Morris E. Leeds Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. Panasonic Medical & Industrial Video Co. has appointed Bonnie Taylor Wilson to the position of government sales manager for the East Coast. Nikon Inc. has named Michael W. Metzger as regional manager for the Midwest and Dave Henderson as assistant manager of the company's industrial department. Optical Coating Laboratory Inc. has appointed Charles J. Abbe president and chief operating officer. He succeeds Herbert M. Dwight Jr., who will continue to serve as chairman and CEO. Cognex Corp. has appointed Arman M. Garakani as director of vision tools and applications for the company's Modular Vision Systems Div. Alan E. Willner, associate professor of electrical engineering at the University of Southern California, has joined LightChip Inc. as technology consultant. Newport Corp.'s subsidiary MikroPrecision Instruments Inc. has received a $4 million order from Therma-Wave Inc. for delivery of precision motion systems for use in Therma-Wave's film-thickness measurement systems. Polaroid Corp. has licensed its color filter technology to Sony Electronics for use in Sony's consumer electronic devices. E-TEK Dynamics Inc. has signed a three-year, multimillion-dollar agreement with Alcatel Submarine Networks to supply high-reliability optical components to Alcatel's subsidiary, STC Submarine Systems Ltd. in Greenwich, UK. Electro Scientific Industries Inc. has received an order from Lucent Technologies Inc. for more than $600,000 worth of Scribe-Read, ScribeAlign and ScribeView machine vision products . The European Space Agency has awarded Sira Electro-optics Div. a contract to review the availability and suitability of fiber optic components worldwide for use in the agency's space programs. The US Navy has forged an agreement with Space Technology Development Corp. to develop and operate a remote-sensing satellite called NEMO (Navy EarthMap Observer) that will provide imagery for both military and civilian use. Fiberstars Inc. has signed a three-year extension of its fiber optic supply agreement with Mitsubishi International Corp. Mitsubishi will supply Fiberstars with an exclusive fiber grade manufactured especially for lighting applications. Under an agreement with GEC-Marconi Avionics, Delft Sensor Systems will develop advanced optical relay modules placed on a fighter pilot's helmet-mounted display. IONAS A/S has signed a licensing agreement with United Technologies Research Center for several patents, enabling them to manufacture and sell Bragg gratings. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded $1.3 million in funding to JMAR Industries Inc. to procure components needed to construct an x-ray lithography point source demonstration this year. The International Laser Display Association has presented 11 awards to AVI-Imagineering with Lasers in the graphic module, abstract and static/photography categories. Lapmaster International has been awarded a contract from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to provide a continuous pitch polisher for the laser directorate of the US Department of Energy's National Ignition Facility. Philips Broadband Networks and Artel Video Systems Inc. have forged an alliance to develop innovative fiber optic digital transmission systems for broadband network operators. Breault Research Organization has expanded its overseas oper- ations by signing STZ Leuchten-technik in Germany Olympus America Inc. has agreed to sell Burleigh Instruments' Gibraltar family of patch clamp micromanipulators and microscope platform products in the US. Sciencetech Inc. has appointed Luminex Inc. in Tokyo and Mohammed Rafie Husain Marafie Sons Co. in Safat, Kuwait, to distribute its line of modular instruments for optical spectroscopy. Clemex Technologies Inc. is distributing Struers A/S metallographic equipment and supplies in Canada. Zugo Techno-logy Private Ltd. has been selected as Laser Design Inc.'s distributor in Singapore. Robotic Vision Systems Inc. has appointed Kaijo Corp. of Tokyo to distribute its line of machine vision systems in Japan. Olympus Optical Co. GmbH of Hamburg, Germany, has signed a marketing and sales agreement with Life Science Resources Ltd. of Cambridge, UK. Montclair Group Inc. has agreed to distribute Applied Fiber Optics for Communications' line of dense wavelength division multiplexers, isolators and fiber optic couplers in the Midwest. Agema Infrared Systems Inc. has added two technical sales representatives in the Western US: Spectron Corp. in Longmont, Colo., and Condition Monitoring Solutions in Lake Forest, Calif. XMR Inc. plans to expand its 22,400-sq-ft facility to include additional cleanrooms, to support general operations and to develop the company's excimer laser systems products and markets. General Scanning Inc. has relocated its laser systems division to a refurbished 78,000-sq-ft facility in Wilmington, Mass. Praxair Inc. plans to expand its rare-gas production capacity at its Calumet, Ind., facility. Anorad Corp. has completed a 30 percent expansion of its manufacturing and office space. The company also added two automated machining centers to increase capacity. Coastal Optical Systems has completed purchase of its 19,100-sq-ft building in West Palm Beach, Fla. Rocky Mountain Instruments has announced the opening of its laser systems group, created to enter the low-end laser market. SICK Optic-Electronic Inc. has opened an office and manufacturing facility in Bloomington, Minn. Panasonic Medical & Industrial Video has established a dedicated electronics business development group. Synoptics Ltd. has formed Syngene, a new division to serve the molecular biology market. Infrared Components Corp. has moved to 2306 Bleeker St. in Utica, N.Y. Anorad Corp., a manufacturer of linear servomotor-based motion control solutions, has established AnoTech Inc. The new company will specialize in turnkey systems for semiconductor assembly and flat panel assembly applications. PhotoMachining Inc., a company launched by several laser industry veterans, has opened its main office in Pelham, N.H. George Maier, former vice president of business development for Artel Video Systems, has formed Orion Broadcast Solu-tions, a broadcast and telecom consulting business. Advanced Lighting Technologies Inc. of Cleveland and Rohm and Haas Co. Ltd. of Philadelphia plan to form Unison Fiber Optic Lighting Systems for the commercial lighting market. Laser Fare Inc. has acquired Mound Laser & Photonics Center Inc., one of the technology companies formed when the US Department of Energy commercialized the Mound Laboratory outside Dayton, Ohio. Union Minière has acquired Phase 4, a manufacturer of zinc selenide. Melles Griot bought Aerotech Corp.'s, helium-neon product line, including lasers, power supplies and frequency laser adapters. Galileo Corp. has signed a definitive agreement to acquire OFC Corp. for $6 million in cash and 1.15 million shares of common stock. Ciena Corp. plans to acquire ATI Telecom International Ltd. of Norcross, Ga., in a transaction valued at $52.5 million. Andrew Corp.'s Sensor Products Group was acquired by KVH Industries Inc. for $2 million. TecOptics, a manufacturer of high-energy laser optics on the Isle of Man, has changed its name to Melles Griot Technical Optics Ltd. Humphrey Instruments, a division of Carl Zeiss Inc., has been renamed Humphrey Systems. UTP Fibreoptics Ltd. has changed its name to Uniphase Lasers & Fibreoptics Ltd. IFR Systems Inc. has taken the new name of IFR Corp. Schwartz Electro-Optics has changed the name of the company's research division to SEO Boston. Shareholders approved a proposal to change the name of Infinite Machines Corp. to Infinite Group Inc. Thermo Vision Inc. has changed the name of its subsidiary Centronic Inc. to Centro Vision Inc.