2024

Anurag Sharma

For outstanding contributions to optics and photonics teaching, research and leadership and in creating India's first dedicated Optics and Photonics Centre at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

2023

Harold J Metcalf

For outstanding mentorship of undergraduate students in hands-on optics research and for organizing an annual symposium for students to present their work during the FiO/LS conference

2022

Julie L Bentley

For her central role in shaping the optics education of countless undergraduate and graduate students.

2021

Nicholas Massa

For outstanding leadership in photonics technician education, including the development and dissemination of innovative educational materials

2020

Julio C Gutierrez-Vega

For exceptional commitment to optics education through extraordinary academic mentoring and teaching; the development of original, engaging teaching materials and the establishment of a world-class optics graduate program

2019

Rick Trebino

For pioneering educational optics practices, including the only textbook on ultrashort-pulse measurement, innovative short courses, and the creation of high-quality graduate and undergraduate optics lectures that are shared freely with students and instructors worldwide

2018

Ulrich Lemmer

For developing a vision for an international education program in optics that appreciates its importance as an enabling technology, and successfully establishing the Karlsruhe School of Optics & Photonics

2017

C. Martijn de Sterke

For far-reaching contributions to optics and photonics education in Australia and the world through exceptional dedication to classroom teaching, outstanding PhD student advising and a sustained commitment to outreach activities

2016

Bishnu P Pal

For over thirty-five years of guided wave photonics education, including the development of graduate and continuing education teaching programs and laboratories in optoelectronics and optical communications at IIT-Delhi, inspiring a generation of leading academic and industrial scientists

2015

Govind P Agrawal

For inspiring and educating a generation of scientists and engineers involved with fiber-optic communications and other photonics technologies through his seminal textbooks and high-impact scientific articles

2014

Shin-Tson Wu

For broad and significant impact to academia and industry in photonics education through mentoring, textbooks, publications, seminars, and on-site training courses

2013

Vasudevan Lakshminarayanan

For outstanding contributions to optics education in international and interdisciplinary settings

2012

Judy Donnelly

For outstanding dedication to engaging middle, high school and college students in optical science and engineering education

2011

Stephen M Pompea

For sustained optics outreach activities to schools and colleges, authorship of hands-on optics curriculum books, and for leadership to realize and distribute Galileoscopes, a low-cost telescope kit for kids

2010

Eustace L Dereniak

For his contributions to optical sciences and engineering education, noting particularly his books on geometrical optics, infrared detectors and infrared systems, his classroom teaching and his mentoring of optics students

2009

Anthony E Siegman *

For outstanding contributions to optical science and engineering education with your books, especially "Lasers", and for mentoring numerous students who have become luminaries in their careers

2008

Eric Mazur

For developing and globally disseminating the innovative teaching methodology now known as “Peer Instruction”, which promotes deeper understanding of the fundamentals of science

2007

M. J. Soileau

For distinguished and long-standing service to the optics education and research community—and specifically for establishing CREOL (the Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers) as a major optics center

2006

Sang Soo Lee *

For laying the foundation for optical science and engineering in Korea through forty-plus years of teaching and research

2005

Thomas K Gaylord

For innovative teaching which has brought the latest research results alive for students for thirty years and for his significant contributions to establishing Georgia Tech’s Optics and Photonics programs

2004

Janice A Hudgings

For innovative teaching methods and involving undergraduate physics and engineering students in original, state-of-the-art, publishable research in optics and solid state physics

2003

Ajoy K Ghatak

For outstanding contributions to optics education and for leadership of a major fiber optics and optoelectronics research and training program in a developing nation

2002

Emil Wolf *

For numerous outstanding contributions as an educator, but especially for the influence of his books, which have been educating optical scientists and engineers for more than forty years

2001

Douglas S Goodman *

For his passion and delight for learning and education, which spawn tutorial talks and lively demonstrations at all technical levels. These feats inspire others to both increase and share their knowledge of optics

2000

Henry Stark

For the educational value of his books and for his successful drive to enrich the classical engineering curriculum with optics and photonics

1999

Bahaa E A Saleh

For outstanding contribution to optical science and engineering education through innovative curricular development, imaginative teaching, textbook writing, editorial activities, and administrative leadership

1998

Amnon Yariv

For educating a significant number of current leaders in optics/optoelectronics, and for authoring seminal textbooks, thus enabling early and now-ubiquitous adoption of optics into undergraduate and graduate curricula

1997

Hugh Angus Macleod *

For his outstanding record of contributions to the education of the optics community about the properties, design, manufacture, and measurement of thin film optical coatings and filters. By emphasis on logical understanding and reasoning, and through the use of new methods in computer aided design, he has brought clarity and understanding of the field to a generation of researchers and engineers

1996

Donald C O'Shea

For his contributions to optics education, including key leadership and ideas for the development of the OSA Optics Discovery Kit, the cornerstone for OSA education activities at the K-12 level

1995

Joseph W Goodman

For leadership and noteworthy contributions to optics education, including outstanding teaching, superbly written textbooks on Fourier and statistical optics, and a large number of doctoral students, many of whom have themselves made significant contributions as educators

1993

Robert G Greenler

For extraordinary leadership in advancing the public appreciation and understanding of science and the scientific method through his lectures and demonstrations of optics to diverse audiences, his writings, and his advocacy for science and education