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15 September 2020
Milton Chang Named 2020 Honorary Member of The Optical Society
WASHINGTON—The Optical Society (OSA) has named Dr. Milton Chang, Managing Director, Incubic Management, USA, its 2020 Honorary Member. Honorary Membership is the most distinguished of all OSA Member categories and is awarded to individuals who have made seminal contributions to the field of optics.
Chang is being recognized “for his visionary and inspirational leadership in building companies and fostering entrepreneurship in photonics, and his generous, ongoing support of OSA.”
“Milton’s impact on OSA and our global community will be felt for generations to come as a result of his lifelong support of our industry” said OSA CEO Elizabeth Rogan. “OSA recognizes his influence as a vanguard in the field and his exceptional contributions.”
Honorary Members are elected by unanimous vote of the OSA Board of Directors upon nomination by the OSA Presidential Advisory Committee and a unanimous vote by the OSA Awards Council.
Chang earned his B.S. engineering degree with highest honors from the University of Illinois and Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology, and received Distinguished Alumni awards from both universities. He also attended the Harvard Owner/President Management Program (OPM) and was a member of the Young President Organization (YPO).
Currently, Managing Director at Incubic Management, Chang was president of Newport and New Focus, which he took public, and has incubated multiple companies without a single failure, resulting in six IPOs and seven acquisitions. He is a Trustee of the California Institute of Technology and has recently served on the SEC Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies. He also served on the Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the authoring committee of the National Academies' Optics and Photonics: Essential Technologies for Our Nation.
He served on the OSA Board of Directors, along with a number of OSA voluntary roles including Past Chair of OIDA, organizer of conferences (OFC, CLEO & FiO), the Nominating Council, Publications Council, and Strategic Planning Council. In addition, Chang has generously funded OSA and its outreach programs, such as the Incubic Milton Chang Travel Grant and the Milton and Rosalind Chang Pivoting Fellowship, which provides an unrestricted fellowship to talented young optical scientists and engineers as they advance science through non-traditional career paths (e.g. public policy, government, and journalism).
Chang is a Fellow of OSA, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and the Laser Institute of America, and is past president of IEEE Photonics Society and the Laser Institute of America and serves as a member of the Committee of 100.
About The Optical Society
The Optical Society (OSA) is dedicated to promoting the generation, application, archiving, and dissemination of knowledge in optics and photonics worldwide. Founded in 1916, it is the leading organization for scientists, engineers, business professionals, students, and others interested in the science of light. OSA’s renowned publications, meetings, online resources, and in-person activities fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate scientific, technical, and educational achievement.
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