Skip To Content

Kevin P. Thompson Optical Design Innovator Award

Learn more about the award and its establishment

Information and deadlines for nominations

View the members

Kevin P. Thompson Optical Design Innovator Award

Recognizes significant contributions to lens design, optical engineering, or metrology by an individual.

The contribution is deemed significant, in that, an individual, who is at such an early phase of their career, has contributed substantially by advancing the discipline or application area.

Candidates must be within ten (10) years of the completion of their highest degree earned in the year the award is presented, excluding career breaks (e.g., eldercare, maternity or paternity leave, adoption).

Contributions could include: innovative and rigorous research; optical system design with a foundation in aberration theory; development of advanced metrology capabilities; product development; patents; or publications.

The award was established in 2017 in memory of Kevin P. Thompson, who, among many other accomplishments, was known for leading breakthroughs in the understanding of the aberration fields of a new class of truly nonsymmetric optical systems using freeform optical surfaces. It is endowed by several supporters including Jannick Rolland and Synopsys.

Winners

2024

Samuel Steven

Samuel Steven

For the introduction of nodal aberration theory to the design of ophthalmic imaging instrumentation and the generalization of the Alvarez lens to achieve tunable correction of chromatic aberrations

2023

Eric Michael Schiesser

Eric Michael Schiesser

For innovation and rigor in optical design methodology

2022

Heejoo Choi

Heejoo Choi

For innovative design of a UV cross-dispersion space telescope and engineering of a laser-truss Large Binocular Telescope metrology system.

2021

Rengmao Wu

Rengmao Wu

For achievements in theory and computational methods for freeform illumination optics

2020

Aaron Michael Bauer

Aaron Michael Bauer

For theoretical, creative, and innovative design methods for freeform optics

2019

Kyle Fuerschbach

Kyle Fuerschbach

For ground breaking work utilizing nodal aberration theory to design, manufacture, and test a fully functional first-ever free form imaging telescope in a fully rotationally nonsymmetric configuration, demonstrating revolutionary freeform surfaces in optical imaging systems

2018

Ulrike Fuchs

Ulrike Fuchs

For interlinking aspects of optical design, tolerancing, metrology and manufacturing for aspherics to enable their usage as reasonable choice in optical systems

* Deceased

Image for keeping the session alive