The Optical Society (OSA) is pleased to announce that its members have elected Eric Mazur of Harvard University, USA, as its 2015 vice president. Three directors-at-large were also chosen during this year's election: Jay Eastman of the University of Rochester, USA; Amy Eskilson of Inrad Optics, USA and Juerg Leuthold of ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
By accepting the vice presidency, Mazur makes a four-year commitment to OSA's Board of Directors. He will serve one year as vice president, followed by one year as president-elect, president in 2017 and past-president in 2018.
“Eric’s contributions to optics and science education are internationally recognized,” said OSA CEO Elizabeth Rogan. “His experience spans three key areas – academic research, science education and industry. This expertise will be a valuable asset to the OSA Membership. We look forward to his leadership over the next four years.”
Mazur is the Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Harvard and Area Dean of Applied Physics. An active OSA Member for many years, he became an OSA Fellow in 2008 “for pioneering contributions to optical waveguiding at the nanoscale level and to understanding the interaction of ultrashort laser pulses with materials.” Mazur served as director-at-large on the OSA Board from 2011-2013, where he sat on the Awards Committee and Executive Committee. He is a current member of OSA’s Publications Long-Term Planning Group, and has previously served on several program committees for OSA meetings, including Photonics India, CLEO and the OSA Femtosecond Laser Microfabrication topical meeting, which he chaired in 2009.
Mazur came to Harvard in 1982 after obtaining a Ph.D. from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. He joined the faculty at Harvard two years later. There, he has made important contributions to spectroscopy, light scattering, the interaction of ultrashort laser pulses with materials and nanophotonics. In addition to his work in optics, Mazur is active in science education. He developed the interactive teaching method known as Peer Instruction, which has gained a large following worldwide and has been adopted across many science disciplines. He won OSA’s Esther Hoffman Beller Award in 2008 in recognition of his efforts in this area. He has founded two companies—SiOnyx, which is commercializing black silicon, and Learning Catalytics, a company recently acquired by Pearson that uses data analysis to improve classroom learning.
Along with Mazur, the new directors at large, Eastman, Eskilson and Leuthold, will begin their terms on January 1, 2015. They will hold their positions for three years.
"OSA is pleased to welcome Jay, Amy and Juerg to the Board," said Rogan. "These three talented members bring a broad set of global experiences and will be effective representatives for OSA’s diverse membership.”