2026 Edgar D. Tillyer Award Winner
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Optica Names Eero Simoncelli the 2026 Edgar D. Tillyer Award Recipient
Optica is pleased to announce that Eero Simoncelli, Flatiron Institute and New York University, New York, USA, has been selected as the 2026 recipient of the Edgar D. Tiller Award. Simoncelli is honored for fundamental discoveries and development of important mathematical tools in the areas of visual perception, visual neuroscience, computer vision, and image processing.
Simoncelli is a Silver Professor of Neural Science, Mathematics, Data Science, and Psychology at New York University, and the Inaugural Scientific Director of the Center for Computational Neuroscience at the Flatiron Institute of the Simons Foundation. Previously, he was on the faculty of the Computer and Information Science Department at the University of Pennsylvania, part of the Sloan Center for Theoretical Visual Neuroscience at NYU, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. He received a BA in physics from Harvard University, studied mathematics at Cambridge University on a Knox Fellowship, and received his PhD in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
His group studies the representation and analysis of visual images, in machine and biological vision systems. This includes empirical study of the structural and statistical properties of visual images, construction of theories and algorithms for representing and processing for those structures, and physiological or perceptual investigations designed to test or validate predictions of these theories.
Simoncelli is a Fellow of IEEE, a member of the AAAS, and an associate member of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. His additional awards and honors include the Swartz Prize for Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience, the Golden Brain Award, an NSF CAREER award, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, an Emmy Award for work on perceptual quality metrics, Outstanding Faculty awards from the NYU GSAS Graduate Student Council, and IEEE Best Journal Article awards.
Established in 1953, the Tillyer Award is presented to an individual who has performed distinguished work in the field of vision, including but not limited to the optics, physiology, anatomy or psychology of the visual system. It honors Edgar D. Tillyer’s important contributions to the advancement of better vision and the optical sciences, and is endowed by the American Optical Company and the Chope Family Bypass Trust.
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Optica, Advancing Optics and Photonics Worldwide, is the society dedicated to promoting the generation, application, archiving and dissemination of knowledge in the field. Founded in 1916, it is the leading organization for scientists, engineers, business professionals, students and others interested in the science of light. Optica's renowned publications, meetings, online resources and in-person activities fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate scientific, technical and educational achievement.
