Established in 2009 by Optical Research Associates (ORA), now the Optical Solutions Group at Synopsys, as a memorial to ORA’s former President and Chief Executive Officer Robert S. Hilbert, this program recognizes the research excellence of students in the areas of optical engineering, lens design and illumination design. Three grants of USD 1,000 can be awarded annually to allow students to travel to the Optical Design and Fabrication Congress and the Frontiers in Optics (FiO+LS) conference (2022) in years that the Design and Fabrication Congress does not take place.

Application Information

How To Apply

Submit a paper to FiO+LS (or IODC when applicable) and opt into the competition. Learn more on the conference website.

Important Dates

The submitting author must opt-in to the competition during the regular paper submission process and follow all of the instructions provided on the submission site.
Paper Submission Deadline: 21 May 2024

Applicant Requirements

• Be the presenter of an accepted paper/poster at the meeting that includes research in the areas of optical engineering, lens design and/or illumination design. (Note: preference is given to oral presentations, but posters are eligible as well.) Applicants are encouraged to include graphics created using either CODE V® or LightTools®.
• Be an undergraduate or graduate student of an educational institution of collegiate grade who is devoting more than half-time to studies within the institution at the time the paper was written.
• Be a current member.

Application Requirements

• CV/Resume (no more than three pages)
• Personal Statement (250 words or less)
• Accepted Paper and Abstract
• One letter of support from head of group leader, department of lab lead or PI

Past Recipients

• Ryosuke Mashiko, The University of Tokyo, Japan (2024)
• Yiming Pang, University of California Santa Barbara, United States (2024)
• Shuman Sun, University of Virginia, United States (2024)
• Ankur Desai, University of Rochester, United States (2023)
• David Lippman, University of Rochester, United States (2023)
• Deblina Sabui, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India (2023)
• Pablo Bedoya-Rios, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Colombia (2022)
• Rui Qi, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA (2022)
• Ruth Woehlke, Marquette University and the Medical College of Wisconsin, USA (2022)
• 2021 - Due to Covid-19 the travel grant was approved to support 22 student registrations at the Optica Optical Design & Fabrication Congress. 
• 2020 - Due to Covid-19 the travel grant was approved to support 31 student presenter registrations at the FIO virtual meeting.
• Philippe Guay, Université Laval, Canada (2019)
• Shun Fujii, Keio University, Japan (2019)
• Xinyang Su, Beijing Jiaotong University, China (2019)
• Ayan Chattopadhyay, Princeton University, USA  (2018) 
• Abhijit Roy, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India  (2018) 
• Ashutosh Singhal and Nisha Nisha, Bharati Vidyapeeth's College of Engineering, India  (2018) 
• Rebecca Berman, University of Rochester, USA  (2017) 
• Niamh Fitzgerald, National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland (2017)
• Yang Zhao, University of Rochester, USA (2017)
• Jin-hui Chen, Nanjing University, China  (2016)
• Ahmed H. Dorrah, University of Toronto, Canada  (2016) 
• Denise Valente dos Santos, University College Dublin, Ireland  (2016) 
• Haoran Ren, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia  (2015)
• Nithyanandan K., Pondicherry University, India (2015)
• Peng Wang, University of Utah, US (2015)
• Tamer Elazhary, University of Arizona, US (2014)
• Aaron Bauer, University of Rochester, US (2014)
• Stacey Sueoka, University of Arizona, US (2014)
• Julie Kho, University of Auckland, New Zealand  (2013)
• Doron Bar-Lev, Tel-Aviv University, Israel (2013)
• Stephen J. Olivas, University of California, San Diego, US (2013)
• Benjamin Alonso, Universidad de Salamanca, Spain (2012)
• Matthew Barnum, University of Arizona, US (2012)
• Anthony Visconti, University of Rochester, US (2012)
• Sergio Carbajo, Colorado State University, US (2011)
• Ying Geng, University of Rochester, US (2011)
• Vyas Akondi, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, India (2011)
• Amber Beckley, University of Rochester, US (2010)
• Joshua Kim, University of Arizona, US (2010)
• Garam Yun, University of Arizona, US (2010)

Contributors

We thank the Optical Solutions Group at Synopsys for their sponsorship of this program.

Selection Committee

The recipient is selected by the FiO+LS conference and program chairs. When IODC is held, the conference and program chairs select for that meeting.