Profile

Hong Hua is a Professor with the James C. Wyant College of Optical Sciences (OSC), The University of Arizona. She completed her BSE and PhD degrees in Optical Engineering in 1994 and 1999, respectively, at the Beijing Institute of Technology. She was a postdoctoral fellow in CREOL at the University of Central Florida (1999) and a Beckman Research Fellow (1999-2002) at the Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prior to joining the UA faculty, she was an Assistant Professor with the University of Hawaii at Manoa until December 2003.

Hua is well-recognized for her contributions in advancing wearable display technologies, imaging technologies, and virtual and augmented reality systems through her research, mentorship, entrepreneurship, and professional services. Together with her trainees and collaborators, Hua’s laboratory has played a leading role in the introduction and advancement of key optical technologies addressing challenging problems in head-worn display technologies for virtual and augmented reality applications, and microscopic and endoscopic imaging technologies for medicine. Hua has co-authored over 130 peer-reviewed publications, more than 150 invited and contributed lectures and presentations, 1 book, and 3 book chapters. Her students received nine Best Paper or Distinguished Student Paper Awards at top scientific conferences. Hua holds more than 50 US and foreign patents. She was a co-founder of one startup, served as a consultant for several companies, and served on the scientific advisory board of another company. She mentored over 20 PhD students and post-docs and over 15 MS graduates, many of whom now play key roles in their academic and industrial positions.

Hua has played service and leadership roles in several scientific societies. She was a member of the Optica Fellow Members Committee (2021-2022) and a member of the Joseph Fraunhofer Award/Robert M. Burley Prize Committee (2011-2012). She served as a chair of scientific conferences, workshops, and symposia for several professional societies. For example, she has been a founding general chair of the 3D Image Acquisition and Display Topical Meeting held annually since 2016, and was co-chair of the 2012 OSA 3D Display Technology Incubator Meeting. She served for several IEEE and ACM conferences, such as IEEE & ACM ISMAR conferences, IEEE Virtual Reality, ACM Virtual Reality Software and Technology, IEEE ICCV, and IEEE CVPR conferences. Hua served as an associate editor for the Journal of Science Advances, guest editor for IEEE/OSA Journal of Display Technology and for Optics Express feature issues, and consulting editor for the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. Finally, she has been a referee for 20+ scientific journals and technical conferences, and a Program Committee Member for several conferences. 

Hua is the recipient of many awards and honors. Recent examples include Fellow of National Academy of Inventors (NAI), SPIE, OPTICA, IEEE VGTC Academy (2023), Inaugural Class of Women of Impact at The University of Arizona (2022), Finalist for the Innovator of the Year (Academia Category) in the Governor’s Celebration of Innovation Awards (2020, 2021, 2022), and Finalist for the Tucson Women of Influence 2020 in the category of Technology Champion.

 

Election Statement

I am truly honored to be nominated as an at-large candidate for the Optica Board of Directors. Optica has been my principal professional home since 1999. Throughout my academic career, Optica publications and meetings have been the critical venues for publishing and discovering important technical advancements and interacting with peers.

My volunteering on Optica conferences and committees has resulted in many professional associations and friendships and created opportunities to expand my professional network and knowledge. For instance, my early involvement as a co-chair to organize 2008 OSA Workshop on Illumination Modulation; the 2009 OSA Symposium on the Future of 3D Display: The Marketplace and the Technology; and the 2012 OSA 3D Display Technology Incubator Meeting have paved the way for a successful launch, in 2016, of the Optica topical meeting on 3D Image Acquisition and Display. This topical meeting has grown steadily and has become one of the important venues at the annual Optica Imaging Congress. As an extension to this topical meeting, I served as a guest editor for several Optics Express feature issues.

If elected, I will work closely with the Optica leadership and staff as well as the optics community to promote Optica’s core values of innovation, integrity, inclusivity and impact. More specifically, I will help to:

Ensure that Optica meetings and publications remain a beacon of quality, integrity and innovation for optics and photonics. I will stay vigilant on emerging research areas and facilitate the promotion of new topics and interests through Optica meetings and publications. I recognize that enhancing the quality and integrity of publications requires the collaborative effort of Optica reviewers, editors, conference committee members and chairs, and I will support measures to ensure transparent and rigorous peer-review processes.

Enhance diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA). Through my role as a conference chair, I recognize that DEIA is an integral part of Optica’s core values. Optica has traditionally excelled at connecting people of different ethnic groups across our global community. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Optica quickly embraced online conferences, which enabled many more people around the world—especially students and early-career professionals, as well as scientists from developing regions—to participate and to learn. By exploring different models of hybrid conferences and online meetings, I will help create opportunities for education, career development and mentoring, help make research and knowledge accessible and affordable, and explore measures that can improve the participation and leadership roles of underrepresented and disadvantaged groups in Optica meetings and committees.

Broaden impact and collaboration. Optics and photonics are woven into the fabric of modern society and have become fundamentally important across many disciplines. I am keen to help create opportunities for collaboration with other professional communities and develop outreach activities to excite young people’s interest in optics and photonics.