Optics & Photonics News

100 most influential people in the world in 2008 by

Time. Jepsen has degrees
from Brown University
and MIT, and she taught
at RMIT (Australia) and
the Kunsthochschule für
Medien (Germany).

OSA Leadership Award In recognition of an individual or group of optics professionals who has made a significant impact on the field of optics and/or made a significant contribution to society

To Lluis Torner, ICFO-The Institute of Photonic Sciences, Spain

For leadership and advocacy of optics and photonics, and especially for the creation of ICFO, an excellence center in optical research and a model for successful optics initiatives

Torner is the founding director of ICFO-The Institute of Photonic Sciences and a professor at Barcelona Tech. He conducts research, education and entrepreneurship in several areas of photonics, with emphasis on nonlinear optics. The primary focus of his research has been the study of optical solitons and their applications to all-optical signal processing and communications. The ultimate aim of his work is developing new strategies to enhance the capacity of optical devices that process information by putting forward new phenomena and implementing new techniques based on the control of light-by-light.

Torner has coauthored more
than 300 articles in scientific
journals. He is a Fellow of OSA,
the European Optical Society,
and the European Physical
Society. He currently
serves as president
of the Associa-
tion of Research
Institutions of Catalonia, an
organization of 40 institutions
conducting research in all fields
of science.

Emmett Leith Medal In recognition of seminal contributions to the field of optical information processing

Jean Pierre Huignard’s research has covered the fields of coherent imaging, nonlinear materials, lasers and electro optics. He has contributed to advances in a number of areas including multilevel diffractive optics, volume holographic memories, photonics for microwave antennas, photorefractive materials, dynamic holography, beam steering, phase conjugation and image amplification.

Huignard received his graduate engineering degrees from Ecole Supérieure d’Optique– In-stitut Optique Graduate School in 1968 and the University of Paris–Orsay in 1974. While working at THOMSON-CSF (TH-CSF) Central Research Laboratory (LCR) Orsay, Huignard became head of the Optics and Signal Processing group and was a member of the TH-CSF Scientific College. From 2000 to 2010, he was an expert scientist at THALES Research and Technology (formerly TH-CSF). He now serves as a photonics consultant.

Active in the international photonics community, Huignard has chaired CLEO Europe and helped plan major meetings. He is coeditor of several books on photorefractive materials and their applications and on phase

To Jean Pierre Huignard, Thales Research & Technology (retired), France

For seminal contributions to the field of spatial light modulators and analog optical signal processing

conjugate laser optics, and coauthor of several book chapters. He is a Fellow of OSA, a former OSA board member, a senior member of IEEE and a laureate of the French Academy of Sciences.

Ellis R. Lippincott Award In recognition of contributions to vibrational spectroscopy ( co-sponsored with the Coblentz Society and the Society for Applied Spectroscopy)

To Isao Noda, Procter & Gamble Co., U.S.A.

For developing two-dimensional infrared correlation spectroscopy, a method that has been expanded to other probing methods and utilized for studying the structure-spectrum correlation for a wide range of materials

Isao Noda’s work covers the broad area of materials and analytical science. He is known for the development of two-dimensional infrared correlation spectroscopy technique. He has also been actively involved in the research and development of a novel class of polymeric materials, including bio-based biodegradable plastics. He is currently a research fellow at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A.

Born in Tokyo, Japan, Noda graduated from Columbia University in 1974 with a B.S. in chemical engineering. He received his M.S. in bioengineering in 1976, M.Phil. in 1978, and Ph.D. in 1979 in chemical engineering from Columbia. In 1997, he received a D.Sc. in chemistry from the University of Tokyo. Noda holds more than 50 U.S. patents as well as many foreign patents, and he has published more than 280 peer-reviewed articles.

Adolph Lomb Medal In recognition of noteworthy contributions made to optics before reaching the age of 35

To Elizabeth M.C. Hillman, Columbia University, U.S.A.

For pioneering developments in biomedical optics, including laminar optical tomography and dynamic contrast enhanced molecular imaging

Elizabeth M.C. Hillman is an assistant professor of biomedical engineering and radiology at Columbia University, and director of the Columbia University Laboratory for Functional Optical Imaging. Her research focuses on development of in vivo optical imaging and microscopy techniques. Her innovative approaches combine dynamic and spectroscopic acquisition and analysis tools that capture the unique properties of optical contrast in living tissues. She applies these techniques to investigate the origins of blood flow modulations in the living brain. Her licensed dynamic contrast enhanced small animal imaging technique has been widely adopted for studies of cancer pathogenesis, pharmaceutical and contrast agent development.

Prior to joining Columbia in 2006, she was junior faculty at the Massachusetts General Hos-pital/Harvard Medical School Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging. She completed her Ph.D. in medical physics and bioengineering at University College London in 2002, where she also earned her undergraduate degree in physics.