Eric Van Stryland was president of the

Optical Society of America Optica, founded as the Optical Society of America (later the Optical Society), is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals, organizes conferences and exhibitions, and ca ...

in 2005. Eric Van Stryland received the

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

PhD degree in 1976, from the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

, Optical Sciences Center,

Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, where he worked on optical coherent transients and photon counting statistics. He worked in the areas of femtosecond pulse production, multiphoton absorption in solids, and laser induced damage at the Center for Laser Studies at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. He joined the Physics Department at the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public university, public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, Texas, Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas, Frisco. It serves as the ...

in 1978 helping to form the Center for Applied Quantum Electronics. In 1987 he joined the newly formed CREOL ( Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers) at the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in unincorporated area, unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida. ...

, where he was professor of physics and electrical and computer engineering. The

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

has funded him for the past 29 years, and he has been performing research for the

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

for a similar period. His current research interests are in the characterization of the nonlinear optical properties of materials and their temporal response as well as the applications of these nonlinear materials properties for sensor protection, switching, beam control etc. He helped develop the

Z-scan technique In nonlinear optics z-scan technique is used to measure the non-linear index n2 ( Kerr nonlinearity) and the non-linear absorption coefficient Δα via the "closed" and "open" methods, respectively. As nonlinear absorption can affect the measureme ...

with Mansoor Sheik-Bahae with whom he also established the methodology for applying Kramers-Kronig relations to ultrafast nonlinearities. This also led to the understanding of cascaded second-order nonlinearities. He is a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

, a former member of their board of directors and co-chair of the Science and Engineering Council, a fellow of the

SPIE SPIE (formerly the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers, later the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers) is an international not-for-profit professional society for optics and photonics technology, founded in 1955. It ...

, senior member of the

Laser Institute of America LIA - The Laser Institute (formerly Laser Industry Association, later Laser Institute of America, commonly referred to as LIA) is an international professional society with a focus on laser applications and laser safety. LIA was founded on Febru ...

and a former board member, a fellow of IEEE LEOS and a member of the APS, and MRS. He also served as a topical editor for

Optics Letters ''Optics Letters'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Optica (formerly known as Optical Society of America). It was established in July 1977. The editor-in-chief is Miguel Alonso (University of Rochester). The journal cove ...

. In 2012, he received OSA's R. W. Wood Prize. He has graduated 25 Ph.D.s and published well in excess of 100 papers. In 2003 he was awarded the highest honor UCF bestows, the Pegasus Award. He was director of the School of Optics/CREOL from July 1999 to May 2004. With the elevation of the School to the first College of Optics and Photonics, he became the dean of the college and served in that capacity until 2009. In addition Governor

Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. A member of the Bush family, Bush political family, he was an unsuccessful candidate for pre ...

established the Florida Photonics Center of Excellence (FPCE) in 2003 and he is the director of that center along with CREOL, both centers within the college.

References

External links

Articles Published by early OSA Presidents
Journal of the Optical Society of America
Nonlinear Optics Group
at CREOL Presidents of Optica (society) American people of Dutch descent 21st-century American physicists University of Arizona alumni University of Central Florida faculty Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American optical physicists Fellows of the American Physical Society {{US-physicist-stub

See also

References

External links