FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Sarah Cogan
The Optical Society
202.216.1409
scogan@osa.org
Optical Society Renames its Leadership Award to Honor Robert E. Hopkins, Noted Optical Engineer
WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 – The OSA Foundation announced today that the fundraising campaign to endow and rename The Optical Society (OSA) Leadership Award in memory of Robert E. Hopkins exceeded its $100,000 fundraising goal in just six months. The campaign, which began earlier this year, was led by OSA Board of Directors Member Charles E. Synborski. The newly renamed award honors Hopkins’ tremendous contributions to the field of optical engineering and to the optics community.
The Robert E. Hopkins Leadership Award will be given to an individual or group that has had a significant impact on the global optics and photonics community or on society as a whole stemming from non-research-oriented activities. It will be presented each fall during the OSA Annual Meeting, Frontiers in Optics.
The award’s endowment was made possible by the support of both corporate and individual donors, including CVI Melles Griot, Semrock, and ATFilms, Units of IDEX Corporation; The Institute of Optics; Sydor Optics Inc.; Corning Incorporated; Hellma USA Incorporated; IPG Photonics Corp.; LaCroix Optical Co.; u2t Photonics AG; Edmund Optics; Lambda Research Corporation; Optimax Systems, Inc.; Prof. James A. & Mrs. Gail Eyer; Duncan Moore; Matthew Rimmer; John Bruning; Bill Mimmack; G. Michael Morris; Charles and Judith Munnerlyn; Jannick and Kevin Rolland-Thompson; James C. Wyant; James Fienup; and Brian J. Thompson.
“The OSA Foundation is very pleased to have surpassed our original fundraising goal to establish the Robert E. Hopkins Leadership Award,” said Rebecca L. Reeds, OSA Foundation director. “Dr. Hopkins made so many lasting and extensive contributions throughout his career, and we welcomed the opportunity to honor his lifelong commitment to the field. On behalf of OSA and the OSA Foundation, I thank everyone who contributed to this award, especially Chuck Synborski for his outstanding leadership of the campaign.”
Hopkins, who passed away in 2009, became a member of OSA in 1937 and served as OSA president in 1973. Recognized as an expert in optical instrument design, aspheric optics, interferometry, lasers, and lens testing, Hopkins has been characterized as the “father of optical engineering.” He was a recipient of OSA’s Frederic Ives Medal (1970) and Joseph Fraunhofer Award (1983). He was also a Fellow of the American Physical Society, served on the SPIE Board of Governors, and was a member of Sigma Xi, the American Society for Engineering Education and numerous advisory panels. His legacy continues through the Robert E. Hopkins Professor of Optics endowed chair and the Robert E. Hopkins Center for Optical Design and Engineering at the University of Rochester.
About the OSA Foundation
The OSA Foundation was established in 2002 to support philanthropic activities that help further the Optical Society's (OSA) mission by concentrating its efforts on providing career and professional development resources and support awards & honors that recognize technical and business excellence. The grants funded by the OSA Foundation are made possible by the generous donations of its supporters as well as the dollar-for-dollar match by OSA. To learn more about and to support the OSA Foundation, please visit www.osa-foundation.org.
About OSA
Uniting more than 130,000 professionals from 175 countries, the Optical Society (OSA) brings together the global optics community through its programs and initiatives. Since 1916, OSA has worked to advance the common interests of the field providing educational resources to the scientists, engineers and business leaders who work in the field by promoting the science of light and the advanced technologies made possible by optics and photonics. OSA publications, events, technical groups and programs foster optics knowledge and scientific collaboration among all those with an interest in optics and photonics. For more information, visit www.osa.org.
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