Mike Zollers

Mike Zollers is the Applications and Product Design Manager, USA for Fraen Corporation in Reading, MA.  He has worked extensively in the field of LED illumination and illumination software.  Mike has previously worked for Optical Research Associates, Guide Corporation, and Hella Lighting Company.  He received his B.S. in Applied Optics and B.S. in Mathematics from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.  He is also a past council member for the NES/OSA (2010 - 2011).

Groot Gregory

Groot Gregory is the LightTools Product Manager at Synopsys (formerly Optical Research Associates). Previously, he has worked at Lambda Research Corporation, Optikos Corporation and the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics. Groot’s interests in optics include optical design and analysis software, and design and deployment of optical instrumentation. Groot is a member of the OSA and a Fellow of SPIE. Groot is a past chair of OSA’s OPN advisory committee. He currently serves OSA as a column editor for OPN, is a member of the Membership and Education Services Council and is a member of the External Relations Committee. He is a member of the editorial advisory committee for AIP's Physics Today magazine and is the Interferometry associate editor for the journal Optical Engineering. He is currently the chair of the SPIE Awards committee and conference chair for the SPIE Novel Optical Systems and Optimization conference and the Optics Education and Outreach conference. He has served the local section as program chair, publications chair, president and treasurer, and has co-chaired past Conversaziones. Groot received degrees in Physics, Mathematics and Optics from the University of Rochester and is a licensed aircraft mechanic.

Barbara Darnell

Barbara Darnell’s extensive optical Sales & Marketing and Project Management experience includes Director of Sales and Marketing for Jenoptik, Jena, Germany and Hilger Crystal, Kent, England. She is currently national Chair of the SPIE Education Committee. She is a Past President of NESOSA, has chaired NESOSA’s Conversazione on Defense Optics in 2005 and organized the Optics Demonstrations for the Cambridge Science Festival in April 2009. She has a BA in Chemistry from NYU, a Diploma in Chocolate from the Callebaut School in Belgium, and serves on the Board of the Newton (MA) Civic Pride Committee.

Katherine Calabro

Katherine is currently a PhD graduate candidate in Biomedical Engineering at Boston University.  She works in the Biophotonics laboratory researching improved mathematical and computational models for use in Reflectance Spectroscopy in turbid media.  These models are used to estimate physiological properties of tissue in vivo using small fiber optic probes, with specific focus on diagnosing pre-cancerous polyps during colonoscopy.  She received her BS and MS in Engineering Science at Pennsylvania State University, doing theoretical electromagnetic research applied to lithography and diffraction gratings.  Katherine is a member of OSA and SPIE, and is an officer for the BU OSA/SPIE student chapter.  She is looking forward to bringing a young perspective to the group, and brainstorming ways to encourage more student participation.

 

Bruce Horwitz

Bruce received his doctorate in Optics from the University of Rochester in 1976 and spent over twenty-five years in R&D and new product development activities, functioning at various times as an individual contributor, program manager, department manager at Itek Optical Systems and as Vice President of Research and Development for MicroE Systems. After leaving MicroE, Bruce was Director of Optical Technology for AXSUN Technologies before founding TechRoadmap Incorporated in 2000, a company providing Director of Intellectual Property services on an outsource basis. Bruce has been a member of the NES/OSA since moving to Massachusetts in 1976 and has served the section at various times as councilor, secretary, and president. He currently is an incumbent councilor.

 

Phillip Malyak

Phil is Sr. Director of Optical Engineering at Prysm, Inc. He is co-inventor the Laser Phosphor Display technology which has been developed and commercialized by Prysm. He has previously worked at Dragon Fire, Zygo TeraOptix, Firefly Technologies, Adaptive Optics Associates and MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Phil's professional interests include optical system design, displays, optical instruments, optical metrology and optical system integration. He is a member of SPIE and OSA. He is currently Past President of NES/OSA. He has also served as Secretary from 2004-2007 and as editor of The Mirror in 2003. Phil received BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering from S.U.N.Y. at Buffalo and a PhD in Optics from the University of Rochester.

 

Joe Warga

Joe Warga is a Photonics Engineer at Bodkin Design & Engineering, LLC.  Previously, Joe was a Research Assistant at Boston University, where he led material science-based research efforts into the photoluminescence and electroluminescence of Silicon Rich Nitrides. Joe earned his Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering with concentrations in Electromagnetics & Optics and Solid State Electronics from Boston University.  In 2005, Joe worked as an Electrical Engineer Intern at Symbol Technologies (now a division of Motorola). He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Boston University in 2006.  Joe is a member of IEEE and the NES/OSA.