BELLINGHAM, Washington, USA — SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, has welcomed 89 new Senior Members from 17 countries.

The newly recognized Senior Members – drawn from across academia, industry, and government — work in a variety of disciplines that include nanophotonics, quantum optics, biomedical engineering, free space optical communications, optical microscopy, optical systems engineering, medical imaging, lidar, machine learning, optoelectronic devices, micro-structured optical fiber technology, astronomical optics, and lithography.

SPIE Senior Members are Society Members of distinction who are recognized for their professional experience and technical accomplishments, their active involvement with the optics community and with SPIE, and for significant performance that sets them apart from their peers.

Among the new cohort of SPIE Senior Members, the Society welcomes a strong representation of women from across the globe, including Rosalind Wynne, director of the Laboratory for Lightwave Devices at Villanova University and an active member of the SPIE Smart Structures community; Imrana Ashraf Zahid, of Quaid-i-Azam University and the first woman in Pakistan to gain a doctorate in quantum optics; Saša Bajt, a group leader at Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron; Misty Blowers, Datalytica CTO; Teri Odom, a professor of materials science and engineering at Northwestern University; and Jaione Tirapu Azpiroz, a senior research scientist at IBM Research in Brazil.

“I congratulate and welcome our new SPIE Senior Members,” said 2023 Senior Member Subcommittee Chair and Clemson University Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Inclusive Excellence for Undergraduate Studies Oliver J. Myers. “All of them are outstanding researchers, practitioners, and supporters of optics and photonics applications. Their invaluable technical contributions advance our field in innovative ways, and their active engagement with the wider community supports its greater development across the international stage. It is especially gratifying to increase the diversity of Senior Members and the spectrum of research in the optics community. I look forward to helping SPIE become more inclusive in the future.”

Nominations for the 2024 cohort of SPIE Senior Members will be accepted through 15 March, 2024; nomination support materials will be accepted until 1 April, 2024. More information and a complete list of all SPIE Senior Members can be found here.

About SPIE

SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, brings engineers, scientists, students, and business professionals together to advance light-based science and technology. The Society, founded in 1955, connects and engages with our global constituency through industry-leading conferences and exhibitions; publications of conference proceedings, books, and journals in the SPIE Digital Library; and career-building opportunities. Over the past five years, SPIE has contributed more than $22 million to the international optics community through our advocacy and support, including scholarships, educational resources, travel grants, endowed gifts, and public-policy development.