AWARDS PRESENTED AT 2017 ANNUAL MEETING, SEPTEMBER 12, 2017
ROCHESTER, NY, September 12th. 2017 – The Rochester Regional Photonics Cluster/New York Photonics today honored three leaders in education and business for their contributions to New York’s Optics and Photonics Industry.
RRPC Executive Director Tom Battley joined past years’ award winners to present the awards in front of an audience of representatives from industry, government and education from across the region at the New York Photonics 2017 Annual Meeting at the Hyatt Regency Rochester, Tuesday night.
The RRPC Entrepreneur Award is given each year to an individual for demonstrating creativity, innovative spirit and drive in pursuit of the dream of creating an industry-leading company in the Optics, Photonics and Imaging Industry. The Entrepreneur Award recipient for 2017 is Dr. Susan Houde-Walter, CEO of Lasermax Rochester, NY.
Dr. Houde-Walter has served as President & CEO of Lasermax since 2000. Lasermax [LaseMaxDefense) is a certified WOSB, woman-owned, small business in Rochester, NY that ruggedizes quantum cascade lasers, solid state and diode lasers and related equipment for the military, federal law enforcement agencies, presidential security forces, municipal law enforcement, in the visible and infrared spectrum (near, short-, mid- and long-wave infrared). ISO and ITAR certified, facility clearance (SECRET). Houde-Walter got her PhD from the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY.
Houde-Walter was a professor at the University of Rochester Institute of Optics, University of Rochester from 1993 – 2005. Among her numerous honors and distinctions, Houde-Walter was President of the Optical Society of America; Elected to the Presidential Chain, (4-year duty, President in 2005); OSA is an international association of ~20,000 optical physicists and engineers, with rosters including 34 Nobel Laureates, the inventors of the laser, fiber optics, holography and other advanced optical technologies. Susan’s development of international leadership, her monthly essays in the award-winning “Optics and Photonics News” membership magazine, her live interviews of the 2005 Nobel Prize winners in Physics (all OSA members), executive team development and unprecedented fundraising success characterized her year as President.
The RRPC Leadership Award is given each year to an individual for working with RRPC members and the community to promote the Rochester Region’s Optics, Photonics and Imaging Industry. The Leadership Award recipient for 2017 is John Bruning.
Dr. Bruning got his PhD in Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois. After a 15-year distinguished career at Bell Laboratoriesin the areas of lithography, IC device packaging, reliability physics and optical interferometry, Dr. Bruning left in May, 1984 to become VP and General Manager of Tropel, a division of GCA Corporation in Rochester, NY.
Bruning led a management buyout of the company from General Signal in April of 1994. Tropel is a world leader in the production of specialty precision optical systems for the microelectronics industry and specialized metrology instrumentation for the automotive and optics industry.
In 2001 Tropel was acquired by Corning, Inc. and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Corning, Inc. Dr. Bruning remained as President and CEO until 2007 when he took on the part-time role as Executive Scientist. He retired in March of 2009.
The RRPC Education Award is given each year to an individual for inspiring students to embrace Optics, Photonics, and Imaging sciences and guiding them in career development. The Education Award recipient for 2017 is Alexis Vogt, Endowed Professor of Optics at Monroe Community College.
Vogt, currently Endowed Chair & Associate Professor of Optics at Monroe Community College in Rochester, NY, teaches in the only Optical Systems Technology program in the nation. The program is at maximum enrollment for Fall, 2017.
Dr. Vogt got her PhD from the University of Rochester Institute of Optics with a specialized emphasis on polarization engineering, coherence theory and microscopy. She interned at Corning, Inc. in metrology for optical fiber, where she designed and developed certification devices to increase accuracy and reliability of fiber draws.
At Bausch & Lomb she was manager of medical affairs in the advanced optical design and metrology department where she was awarded the 2012 CEO Award Recipient for “directly showcasing Bausch + Lomb optical designs to eye care professionals in a compelling and engaging way…” and the 2011 Focus on Excellence award.
As an optical physicist, Vogt was applications engineer, business development manager and senior product manager at Melles Griot in Rochester, where she was awarded the 2015 IDEX KEEP Award for high performance and was offered financial incentives to remain at IDEX.
She instead chose an endowed professorship at MCC in optical systems technology.
John Herbrand, Esq. was recognized with the organization’s Distinguished Service Award. Herbrand has been the organization’s attorney and trusted advisor since it was formed in 1998.
Herbrand has more than 30 years experience as an attorney working with small, mid-size and large businesses engaged in technology development and manufacturing. For the past 20 years, in his private practice as a corporate attorney Mr. Herbrand has represented primarily high-technology start-ups.
Mr. Herbrand has a Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering, from Pennsylvania State University, and received a Juris Doctor, with Honors, from George Washington University.