Stephen D. Fantone

OSA 2020 President Stephen D. Fantone is one of only nine OSA Treasurers, serving from 1996-2013.  He received his S.B. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his Ph.D. from The Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester. His work there was under the supervision of Prof. Duncan T. Moore. While completing his Ph.D., Fantone joined Polaroid Corporation, where he worked on the development of Polaroid products and related technology, both as an employee and later through services provided by his company, Optikos. He has been a Senior Lecturer in the MIT Mechanical Engineering Department since 1995.
 
Fantone is the founder and president of Optikos Corporation. Established in 1982, Optikos is an engineering and instrumentation firm that uses optics as an enabling technology for clients who are developing medical devices and diagnostics, virtual reality and consumer products, aerospace and defense systems, and automotive sensing and imaging applications.  Optikos also develops and markets metrology instruments that assess the quality of imaging systems.
 
Fantone is an OSA Fellow. He has served on the Board of the OSA Foundation since 2004, and has chaired OSA’s Strategic Planning Committee since 2015. He served as an OSA Board Member for two decades and as Vice-Chair of the 2016 Centennial Advisory Panel.  As OSA Treasurer, he chaired the Finance, Audit and Investment Committees, and during his 18-year tenure (through 2013), OSA increased its financial reserves over 15-fold.

His OSA experience also includes serving as lens design Topical Editor for Applied Optics; and engagement with meetings and conferences includes leadership roles with Optical Fabrication & Testing Workshops, the OSA Engineering Council, the first LEAP program at CLEO, and the OF&T Technical Group. He served as President and Program Chair of the local OSA section and Optikos hosts a local section meeting annually. In 2007, Fantone received OSA’s Distinguished Service Award and in October, 2013, The Optical Society renamed that award the Stephen D. Fantone Distinguished Service Award to recognize his commitment to the organization. 

In addition to his work with OSA, Fantone serves on the University of Rochester Dean’s Advisory Committee for the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and on the Director’s Advisory Committee at The Institute of Optics. He has received both the University’s Distinguished Alumnus and Distinguished Scholar Awards. Fantone serves on the Board of the Hertz Foundation and as Chairman of the Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based public policy think tank. Previous board membership included Zygo Corporation, Rofin-Sinar Technologies, Inc. and Benthos, Inc. (Chairman).  Fantone is often consulted for his expertise in optical engineering and optical product development. He has served on numerous program review panels, provided expert testimony on patent infringement and trade secret litigation cases, and been awarded over 65 patents covering a broad range of optical technologies.