Harrison H Barrett received a BS in Physics from Virginia Polytechnic institute in 1960, an MS in Physics from MIT in 1962, and a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Harvard University in 1969. During his time at Harvard, he worked in the Raytheon Research Division. After graduating with his Ph.D., he moved to the University of Arizona where he remains today. In his time there, he has held a number of positions in different departments, including the Arizona Cancer Center, the Biomedical Engineering and Applied Mathematics departments, the College of Medicine (Radiology/Medical Imaging), and the College of Optical Sciences.

Barrett has received numerous awards, including the Humboldt Prize, IEEE Medical Imaging Scientist Award, OSA’s C.E.K. Mees Medal in 2005, the first OSA/SPIE Joseph W. Goodman Book Writing Award (with K. J. Meyers), and the SPIE Gold Medal in 2011. He is active in the OSA community, serving on many editorial boards and award committees.