Description

OPTICA recognizes and celebrates the field's technical, research, engineering, education, business, leadership and service accomplishments. Their awards program spans all areas of optics and photonics, as well as contributions made to the community:

Frederic Ives Medal/Jarus W. Quinn Prize - the highest award of the Society, recognizes overall distinction in optics.

Esther Hoffman Beller Medal- recognizes outstanding contributions to education in optical science and engineering

Max Born Award- recognizes an individual who has made outstanding contributions to physical optics, theoretical or experimental

Stephen D. Fantone Distinguished Service Award- recognizes service to Optica

Michael S. Feld Biophotonics Award- recognizes individuals for their innovative and influential contributions to the field of biophotonics, regardless of their career stage

Paul F. Forman Team Engineering Excellence Award- recognizes team technical achievements in optical engineering

Joseph Fraunhofer Award/Robert M. Burley Prize- recognizes research accomplishments in the field of optical engineering

The Joseph W. Goodman Book Writing Award- recognizes authorship of an outstanding book in the field of optics and photonics, published in the last six years, that has contributed significantly to research, teaching, or the optics and photonics industry (co-presented with SPIE and presented in even-numbered years only). Nominations for the 2026 award should be submitted to Optica.

Nick Holonyak Jr. Award- recognizes contributions to optics based on semiconductor-based devices and optical materials, including basic science and technological applications

Robert E. Hopkins Leadership Award- recognizes an individual or group who has had a significant impact on the global optics and photonics community or on society as a whole stemming from non-research oriented activities

Edwin H. Land Medal- recognizes pioneering work empowered by scientific research to create inventions, technologies, and products

Sang Soo Lee Award- recognizes outstanding leadership in founding or growing the optics and photonics community locally

Emmett N. Leith Medal- recognizes seminal contributions to the field of optical information processing

Ellis R. Lippincott Award- recognizes contributions to vibrational spectroscopy

Adolph Lomb Medal- recognizes noteworthy contributions made to optics at an early career stage*

Leonard Mandel Quantum Optics Award- recognizes distinguished contributions to the foundations of statistical and quantum optics, and/or applications in advanced technologies

C.E.K. Mees Medal- recognizes an original use of optics across multiple fields

William F. Meggers Award- recognizes outstanding work in spectroscopy

David Richardson Medal- recognizes contributions to optical engineering, primarily in the commercial and industrial sector

Kevin P. Thompson Optical Design Innovator Award- recognizes contributions to lens design, optical engineering, or metrology at an early career stage*

Edgar D. Tillyer Award- recognizes distinguished work in the field of vision

Charles Hard Townes Medal- recognizes contributions to quantum electronics

Optica Treasurer's Award- recognizes an Optica employee who contributes significantly to organizational excellence, promotes and enacts innovative solutions, or exemplifies inspirational leadership

R. W. Wood Prize- recognizes an outstanding discovery, scientific or technological achievement or invention

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

Eligibility

Eligibility differs among awards. Please see the Optica website.

How to Apply

Nominations must be submitted directly on the Optica website. Additional nomination details for individual awards are also available on the Optica website. 

Please also submit an OR-5 and a completed application to research.services@uoguelph.ca by the external deadline.

For More Information

Contact ailsakay@uoguelph.ca or see the Optica website.