Honorary Members
The most distinguished of all OSA Member categories, Honorary Membership is awarded to individuals who have made unique, seminal contributions to the field of optics.
2019 Honorary Member
Elsa M. Garmire
For contributions to nonlinear optics and optoelectronics, leadership in linking science and public policy, and for service to OSA.
Meet all OSA Honorary Members.
Awards and Medals
Frederic Ives Medal/Jarus W. Quinn Prize
Ursula Keller
For fundamental contributions to ultrafast lasers technology, especially in the development of high peak and average power oscillators and important breakthroughs in attosecond science.
Esther Hoffman Beller Medal
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.
Stephen D. Fantone Distinguished Service Award
Susan Houde-Walter
For outstanding service to OSA through numerous advisory and leadership roles, including 2005 President, Board of Directors Member and Chair of the Optics and Photonics News Editorial Advisory Committee.
Michael S. Feld Biophotonics Award
Nimmi Ramanujam
For advances in precision diagnostics and therapeutics to address global disparities in cervical and breast cancer management and mortality.
Paul F. Forman Team Engineering Excellence Award
2-Photon Optical Clock Collaboration
National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA; The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, USA; California Institute of Technology, USA; Stanford University, USA; University of Colorado, Boulder
For the development of an optical atomic clock architecture that leverages microfabricated photonic components, resulting in a vast reduction in size, weight, and power and enabling next generation applications in timing, navigation, and communication.
Joseph Fraunhofer Award/Robert M. Burley Prize
Jannick Rolland
For numerous creative and innovative applications in several fields of optical engineering including Astronomy, Medical Imaging, Augmented & Virtual Reality, Image science, and Freeform Optics.
Joseph W. Goodman Book Writing Award (co-presented with SPIE)
Quantitative Biomedical Optics: Theory, Methods, and Applications
Irving J Bigio, Boston University, USA and Sergio Fantini, Tufts University, USA
Nick Holonyak Jr. Award
Kei May Lau
For significant contributions to hetero-epitaxy of compound semiconductors on silicon for future integrated lasers and advancing the field of light-emitting diode microdisplays.
Robert E. Hopkins Leadership Award
Roberta Ramponi
For leadership in the promotion and dissemination of optics and light-based technologies, and outstanding contributions in establishing a strategic vision for research and innovation in photonics in Europe.
Edwin Land Medal (co-presented with the Society for Imaging Science and Technology).
Eric R. Fossum
For the invention and commercialization of advanced CMOS optical sensor imaging technology and the Quanta Image Sensor, and for university entrepreneurial and national young inventor training activities.
Emmett N. Leith Medal
Mitsuo Takeda
For contributions to the fields of optical information processing and holography through the inventions of Fourier fringe analysis and coherence holography.
William F. Meggers Award
Tony F. Heinz
For seminal studies of the properties and dynamics of surfaces, interfaces, and nanoscale materials by diverse spectroscopic techniques, including through the development of powerful new methods.
David Richardson Medal
G. Michael Morris
For contributions to the commercial development of diffractive and beam shaping optics, along with significant achievements in entrepreneurship, the founding and development of two highly successful companies, and ongoing support of education in optical engineering.
Kevin P. Thompson Optical Design Innovator Award
Aaron Bauer
For theoretical, creative, and innovative design methods for freeform optics.
OSA Treasurer's Award
Mary Wheeler
For exemplifying the type of leadership that promotes excellence amongst her coworkers, and outstanding support of the Society’s digital strategies.
Meet all OSA Award and Medal Recipients.
2020 Fellows
Since 1959, over 2,500 members have joined the ranks of OSA Fellow. These members have served with distinction in the advancement of optics and photonics through distinguished contributions to education, research, engineering, business and society.
Cristian Antonelli
Università degli Studi dell'Aquila, Italy
For fundamental contributions to the study of propagation-related phenomena in single and multi-mode fiber-optic transmission
Julie Bentley
University of Rochester, USA
For outstanding international leadership in optical design through conference organization, innovative methods, and excellence in teaching and mentoring
Ivan Biaggio
Lehigh University, USA
For outstanding and sustained contributions to materials development and understanding, for applications that require the ability to manipulate light
Fabien Bretenaker
CNRS and Université Paris-Saclay, France
For original developments in laser physics, non-linear optics and quantum optics, eg, Coherent Population Oscillation
David C. Brown
Advanced Photonic Sciences, USA
For industrial leadership and pioneering research in rare-earth activated lasers, rare-earth doped cryogenic laser technology and the understanding of thermal effects in fiber lasers and cryogenic lasers
Yangjian Cai
Soochow University & Shandong Normal University, China
For significant contributions to optical coherence structure engineering and their applications
Yi Cai
ZTE TX, Inc., USA
For contributions to forward error correction and digital signal processing in optical fiber communications
Francesca Calegari
Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY) and Universität Hamburg (UHH), Germany
For major contributions to attosecond science
Christophe Caloz
KU Leuven and Polytechnique Montréal, Belgium and Canada
For pioneering contributions to electromagnetic metamaterials and sustained leadership in bridging the gap between microwave and photonics technologies
Liangcai Cao
Tsinghua University, China
For outstanding and sustained contributions to the research and development of holography and optical information processing
Yanne Chembo
University of Maryland, USA
For pioneering contributions to the development of microwave photonic systems for aerospace and communication engineering, including monolithic optical frequency comb generators and optoelectronic oscillators
Yung-Fu Chen
National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
For pioneering contributions to the development of diode-pumped Raman lasers and structured laser modes for exploring quantum-classical connections
Nan Chi
Fudan University, China
For pioneering developments in visible light communication, coherent optical transmission and optical packet/burst switching
Wonshik Choi
Korea University and Center for Molecular Spectroscopy and Dynamics, Institute for Basic Science, South Korea
For innovative contributions to cell tomography and deep optical imaging within complex scattering media
Hilmi Volkan Demir
Nanyang Technological University and Bilkent University UNAM, Singapore & Turkey
For pioneering and sustained contributions to the research and development of nanocrystal optoelectronics, semiconductor lighting and nanophotonics
Mark R. Dennis
University of Birmingham, UK
For seminal contributions to the understanding of the geometry and topology of light, especially polarization, singular optics and knotted optical vortices
Nibir K. Dhar
C5ISR Center NVESD, USA
For outstanding technical and program leadership in advancing imaging technology and components for defense and commercial applications.
Nikolaos Efremidis
University of Crete, Greece
For important contributions in nonlinear optics, specifically for the proposition of the optical induction technique for experimenting with discrete solitons, for solitons in photonic lattices, and for discovering abruptly-autofocuing beams
Stefan Enoch
Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, Centrale Marseille, Fresnel Institut, France
For outstanding fundamental contributions to the theory of nanophotonics, and for applying his insights to medical diagnostics
Ling Fu
Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China
For contributions to in vivo optical microscopy, especially endomicroscopy technologies based on fiber-optic sensing and imaging for neuronal activity recording and for high-resolution medical diagnosis
Ulrike Fuchs
Asphericon GmbH, Germany
For outstanding and sustainable contributions to research linking the production of aspheres and metrology with questions of optical design and their transfer to free-form optics
Michael Gehm
Duke University, USA
For contributions to computational and compressive sensing, optical trapping of neutral atoms, and service to OSA
Zabih Ghassemlooy
University of Northumbria at Newcastle, UK
For significant contributions to free space optical communication systems (FSO) and visible light communications (VLC)
Bai-Ou Guan
Jinan University, China
For significant contributions to fiber optic sensor technology, particularly fiber grating laser sensors, and optical microfiber biosensors
Julio C. Gutiérrez-Vega
Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico
For pioneering contributions to physical optics through studies of structured light beams and fractional optics, establishing the Tecnologico de Monterrey’s optics program, and providing outstanding editorial service to OSA publications
Jianhua Hao
Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
For outstanding and pioneering contributions to multifunctional phosphors and photonic devices
Yoshio Hayasaki
Utsunomiya University, Japan
For technical innovations in holography and its applications to information photonics, optical metrology, and material laser processing
Sven Hoefling
University of Wuerzburg and University of St Andrews, Germany & UK
For pioneering work on growth and device engineering of semiconductor materials for novel opto-electronic quantum devices
Jennifer J. Hunter
University of Rochester, USA
For the development of ophthalmic imaging systems that provide unprecedented insight into the function and structure of the retina
Xavier Intes
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA
For achievements in translational biophotonics
Jian-Ming Jin
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
For fundamental contributions to computational electromagnetics and numerical simulation in photonics and optoelectronics
Safa Kasap
University of Saskatchewan, Canada
For outstanding contributions to the research and development of radiation detectors for high-dose high-resolution radiation measurement, x-ray imagers, and for understanding optical properties of a wide class of materials
Fumio Koyama
Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
For seminal contributions to VCSEL photonics and integration
Giuseppe Leo
Université de Paris, France
For pioneering contributions to nonlinear nanophotonics with monolithic aluminum gallium arsenide nanoantennas and metasurfaces
Di Liang
Hewlett Packard Labs, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, USA
For seminal contributions to innovative photonic material and device integration for energy efficient optical communication and volume production
Rongguang Liang
University of Arizona, USA
For contributions to optical engineering and biomedical optical imaging
Lih Y. Lin
University of Washington, USA
For significant contributions to the research and development of MEMS optical switching technologies, and innovation in solution-processed photonic components and devices
Na Liu
Kirchhoff-Institute for Physics, University of Heidelberg, Germany
For outstanding contributions to nanooptics, three-dimensional optical metamaterials, and the interdisciplinary scientific work in the development of DNA nanotechnology-enabled dynamic nanoplasmonics
Chris Mack
Fractilia, USA
For outstanding and sustained contributions to the research and development of optical lithography for semiconductor manufacturing, and for education in lithography and semiconductor processes
Claudio Mazzali
Corning Optical Communications, USA
For business and technical leadership in optical fiber, cable and connectivity product developments
Alan Migdall
Joint Quantum Institute, National Institute of Standards & Technology and University of Maryland, USA
For significant contributions to quantum optics, especially the development of accurate metrology of single-photon detectors using parametric down conversion
Jeremy N. Munday
University of California, Davis, USA
For pioneering contributions to novel photodetectors and energy converters using nanophotonic materials
Alexander Nosich
Institute of Radiophysics and Electronics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Ukraine
For the development of a method of analytical regularization to solve radiation, scattering and eigenvalue problems in micro and nano optics
Salah Obayya
Zewail City of Science and Technology, Egypt
For research leadership and seminal contributions to computational photonics
Shilong Pan
Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China
For outstanding and sustained achievements in microwave-photonics based measurement
Thomas Pfeiffer
Nokia Bell Labs, Germany
For advancing research and commercialization of optical access technologies and architectures
Todd Pittman
University of Maryland Baltimore County, USA
For pioneering contributions to quantum optics and quantum information processing with photons
Jianrong Qiu
Zhejiang University, China
For outstanding contributions in the area of fs laser material interaction and optoelectronic materials and their applications
Heng Tao Shen
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, China
For pioneering contributions and leadership in the research and development of multimedia analysis, indexing and retrieval
Melissa Skala
University of Wisconsin-Madison and Morgridge Institute for Research, USA
For innovation in the use of molecular imaging in cancer research and ophthalmology
Anders Søndberg Sørensen
The Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
For pioneering contributions to theoretical quantum optics, in particular for proposing novel methods for quantum gates and generation of non-classical states of atoms, light and plasmons.
Larry B. Stotts
Stotts Consulting, USA
For outstanding technical leadership in optical and photonic systems
Taco Visser
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands
For foundational contributions to optics in the field of plasmonics and coherence
Stacie Williams
DARPA, USA
For lifetime achievement and leadership in identifying and implementing innovative solutions to optical challenges in the fields of remote sensing and biophysics, and for an enduring impact on STEM education
Jianke Yang
University of Vermont, USA
For outstanding and innovative contributions to nonlinear optics, parity-time symmetry, and their numerical methodologies
Joel Yang
Singapore University of Technology & Design, Singapore
For pioneering contributions in plasmonic color printing and sub-10-nm resolution patterning for nanophotonics
Ken-Tye Yong
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
For significant contributions to develop optical functional nanomaterials and devices for biophotonic and nanophotonic applications
C. Patrick Yue
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong
For contributions to the advancement of visible light communication and optical fiber communication system-on-chip design based on silicon technologies
Han Zhang
Shenzhen University, China
For contributions to optical nanomaterials, developing two-dimensional nanomaterials for applications in optoelectronics as saturable absorbers to generate ultra-short pulse, and applications in bio-photonics for bio-imaging and therapeutics
Lin Zhang
Aston University, UK
For technical leadership and outstanding contributions to the research and development of fibre grating based devices and technology, and their applications in optical communications and sensing
Meet all OSA 2020 Fellows.