Rochester Professor Julie Bentley elected into SPIE presidential chain

24 Aug 2023

Society’s next vice president is also the president of Bentley Optical Design.

Julie Bentley, Jim McNally, Samuel Achilefu. Agnes Huebscher, Daewook Kim, Michelle Stock.

Julie Bentley, of the University of Rochester, NY, has been elected to serve as the 2024 vice president of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. With her election, Bentley joins the SPIE presidential chain. She will serve as president-elect in 2025, and as the Society's president in 2026.

The 2023 SPIE President Bernard Kress, director of XR hardware at Google, made the announcement along with other SPIE election results at this year's Annual General Meeting of the Society on 22 August, during SPIE Optics + Photonics, in San Diego. Terms begin on 1 January 2024.

Profile

Bentley, a professor at the University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics, who began her academic career in optics as a student at the university, is a recognized expert in designing lenses and optical systems, as well as a much-lauded instructor.

She is the 2022 recipient of the university’s Edmund A. Hajim Outstanding Faculty Award, as well as a 2014 recipient of the university’s Goergen Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award. In 2019, she received the RRPC Education Award from the Rochester Regional Photonics Cluster. She is also a private consultant and holds four patents in optical design and engineering.

An SPIE Fellow Member since 2012, Bentley has had extensive involvement with the Society. She also served on the SPIE Board of Directors 2014-17, and has served on the Scholarship, IT, Education, Awards, and Publications Committees.

Bentley has also chaired the Joseph W. Goodman Book Writing Award, and has co-authored two books for SPIE Press, Field Guide to Lens Design and Designing Optics Using CODE V. In 2022, Bentley received the SPIE Directors’ Award, one of the Society’s highest honors.

“I am very excited to have been chosen to serve as the next vice president of SPIE,” said Bentley. “The last few years have been challenging to navigate for us all: the pandemic changed how we work, learn, and interact. As a professor with a new semester just weeks away, I find myself searching for the best way to balance previous methods of teaching with the rapidly developed technological advancements that have improved our ability to deliver course content to students.”

She added, “In a similar fashion, I am looking forward to working with the incredible team at SPIE to find the best ways to embrace recent changes, using them to grow the Society while maintaining the community-focused aspects we all love about SPIE.”

Further appointments

Alongside Bentley, Jennifer Barton, director of the BIO5 Institute at the University of Arizona, will serve as the 2024 SPIE President while Zygo’s Peter De Groot will serve as President-Elect. Jim McNally, CEO of StratTHNK Associates, was elected to serve as the 2024 SPIE Secretary/Treasurer.

The following newly elected Society Directors will serve three-year terms from 2024-2026:

Samuel Achilefu, professor and chair of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center’s department of biomedical engineering.
Agnes Huebscher, Edmund Optics’ senior director of global strategic marketing.
Daewook Kim, associate professor at the University of Arizona’s Wyant College of Optical Sciences.
Michelle Stock, TracInnovations’ director of business development and sales, North America.