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21 October 2008
OSA Elects 2009 Vice President, J. Christopher Dainty
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Lyndsay Meyer
The Optical Society
+1.202.416.1435
lmeyer@osa.org
OSA Elects 2009 Vice President, J. Christopher Dainty
Election Also Establishes Three New Directors-at-Large
ROCHESTER, N.Y., Oct. 21 – The Optical Society (OSA) is pleased to announce that its members have elected J. Christopher Dainty, National Univ. of Ireland Galway, Ireland, as its 2009 vice president. During this year’s vote Neal Bergano, Tyco Telecommunications, USA; Christoph Harder, Harder and Partner, Switzerland; and Wilhelm Kaenders, Toptica Photonics AG, Germany, were also elected as new directors-at-large.
By accepting the vice presidency, Dainty makes a four-year commitment to OSA’s Board of Directors. As vice president, Dainty will automatically become president-elect in 2010 and then the society's president in 2011, followed by a one-year term as past president.
A Fellow of OSA, Dainty has been an OSA member since 1971. With widespread participation in OSA activities, he has been involved with topical meetings, awards and has been a two-time past member of the Board of Directors. Currently serving on the Frederic Ives Medal Committee, Daintyhas been regularly engaged in OSA awards and honors, having served on the overall society Awards Committee, the Leadership Award/New Focus Prize Committee and the Fellows and Honorary Members Committee. In addition, Dainty has provided technical expertise to the organization’s initiatives as a member of the Computational Optical Sensing and Imaging Program Committee, Adaptive Optics: Analysis and Methods Program Committee, and the Signal Recovery and Synthesis Program Committee.
Dainty also served as the secretary-general and president of the International Commission for Optics, as well as the president of the European Optical Society. He currently is a member of the board of the European Technology Platform “Photonics 21” and is also on the external/scientific advisory boards of The Center for Adaptive Optics (Santa Cruz) and The Institute of Photonic Sciences (Barcelona).
“Chris has been active in the global optics community for many years, and his experiences will strengthen OSA’s ties to diverse communities,” said Elizabeth Rogan, OSA’s executive director. “The OSA leadership looks forward to Chris joining the Board in his new role."
Christopher Dainty holds the chair of applied physics in the School of Physics at the National University of Ireland, Galway. His research interests include optical imaging, scattering and propagation. In these areas, he has co-authored or edited six books, approximately 140 peer-reviewed papers and 220 conference presentations.
Dainty is the 1984 recipient of the International Commission of Optics Prize, the 1993 Thomas Young Medal and Prize (IoP), the 2003 C.E.K. Mees Medal and Prize (OSA) and the Optics and Photonics Division Prize 2004 (IoP). He was recently elected to membership of the Royal Irish Academy.
Along with Dainty, the new directors-at-large, Bergano, Harder and Kaenders, will begin their terms on Jan. 1, 2009, replacing three outgoing members of the Board of Directors. The new directors-at-large will hold their positions for three years.
“Coming from multi-disciplines within the field, from industry, academia and from all over the globe, our Board reflects the diversity of our membership,” said Rogan. “We thank all of the candidates who took the time and effort to run for office, thank the overwhelming number of members who participated in the election and welcome our new board members.”
About OSA
Uniting more than 70,000 professionals from 134 countries, the Optical Society of America (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.
