Duncan Moore, a professor of optical engineering at the University of Rochester, received a Gold Medal Award from SPIE for his innovative research in gradient-index, or GRIN, lenses. The annual award recognizes outstanding engineering or scientific accomplishments that have been pivotal to the progress of optics. GRIN systems use a special type of lens that mimics the way insect eyes work and allows light to travel in curved paths. Tiny GRIN lenses often take the place of much bigger, conventional lenses and have made innovations such as desktop copiers and fax machines possible. Moore is the founder of Gradient Lens Corp., a Rochester, N.Y., maker of precision optics and optical instruments including Hawkeye borescopes. He is the former dean of the Univeristy of Rochester School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the former director of the Institute of Optics and a past president of the Optical Society of America. He has also held several prominent national posts, including science and technology advisor to US Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia; associate director for technology in the White House Office of Science an Technology Policy for the Clinton Administration; and president and CEO of the Infotonics Technology Center Inc., an industry, academic and government research partnership. The Gold Medal will be presented at an awards banquet during SPIE's Optics & Photonics exhibition, which will be held in conjunction with its 51st annual meeting, to be held August 13-17 in San Diego, Calif. . . . Advanced BioPhotonics Inc., a Bohemia, N.Y., developer of infrared medical imaging technology, and the Yale University School of Medicine surgery department are participating in a pilot project to investigate the use of Advanced BioPhotonics' BioScanIR system to map vascular perforator vessels and perform post-operative monitoring of skin flap viability in reconstructive breast surgery. The investigation is based on work done at the University of Geneva. The year-long study will begin later this month. . . . Masood Jabbar, former executive vice president and advisor to theCEO of Sun Microsystems Inc., has joined the JDSU board of directors. Jabbar left Sun in 2003 to devote time to advising early-stage companies. He is a director of Openwave Systems Inc., Silicon Image Inc. and MSC Software. . . . Stephen D. Okland Jr. was hired as vice president of sales at Spectranetics Corp., a Colorado Springs, Colo., medical device company. Okland was formerly chief operating officer at Vasca Inc. and previously held positions at Boston Scientific Corp.