Thomas G. Brown

Profile

Thomas G. Brown is Professor of Optics and Director of the Institute of Optics, University of Rochester.  His publications have included the uses of unconventional polarization states in optical metrology and microscopy, fundamental problems in silicon photonics and semiconductor lasers, and the physical optics of coherence measurements and optical testing. He has served as a leader in AIM Photonics, the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Modern Optics and is the co-Chair of the annual conference on multidimensional microscopy at Photonics West. He is a Fellow of Optica and the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) and is an honorary member of the Rochester Local Chapter of Optica. He is the 2025 recipient of the G.G. Stokes award in polarization given by SPIE. His Optica service has included early service on the editorial board of Optics Express and as program co-Chair of the centennial celebration in 2016.   

Brown began his work in optics and optoelectronics in 1978 as an optical fiber systems designer at GTE Laboratories. While there, he wrote the systems modeling software that was used to design the first live-traffic 1.3 µm optical fiber telephone link. His doctoral dissertation, carried out at the Institute of Optics under the supervision of Dennis Hall, was in the area of silicon-based optoelectronics/photonics with particular emphasis on mechanisms for extrinsic light emission in silicon. Since joining the Institute faculty in 1987, Brown has taught on both the graduate and undergraduate levels, established an Undergraduate Honors Research Program and for 10 years served as Undergraduate Chair, managing an optics undergraduate program of approximately 80 students. During that period, he established the Hopkins Center for Optical Design and Engineering, a program whose charter was to provide advanced laboratory support for a new optical engineering curriculum in Rochester.  

As director of the Institute, he manages academic programs with over 350 undergraduate and graduate optics majors, works with faculty on major funding initiatives, and has led a faculty expansion effort that resulted in the planned hiring of 10 additional faculty members through the generous donations of the late James Wyant, his wife Tammy, and son Clair. This program has been matched by generous donations from friends and alumni of the Institute. 

Election Statement

Optica has been part of my professional life since my very early graduate school years. The annual meeting, later re-named Frontiers in Optics, became a pilgrimage of sorts, at which graduate students could rub shoulders with Nobel Laureates, be inspired by groundbreaking research talks, and would have the opportunity to provide oral presentations of their own work. Similarly, the Optica publications have been respected around the world for many decades. The Optica Foundation has been active in supporting outreach, scholarships, and entrepreneurship, all of which are critical in laying the foundation for future leadership and scholarship.  

As director I would work hard to support and to gather support for, the areas of excellence for which Optica is so well known. I have a particularly strong interest in industry—university collaborations, international outreach to developing countries, working toward expanded outreach support and student scholarships, and in working to build a strong relationship with our sister society, SPIE. In cooperative activities we can be even stronger.   

My academic roots are in Rochester so I have an interest in making sure Optica retains close ties with the academic centers of optics, both in the USA and around the world.  And, since academic centers are often connected to industry centers, this will benefit both Optica and the optics centers globally.