2025 Stephen D. Fantone Distinguished Service Award Winner
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Optica Names Thomas M. Baer the 2025 Stephen D. Fantone Distinguished Service Award Recipient
Optica is pleased to announce that Thomas M. Baer, Stanford University, USA, has been selected as the 2025 recipient of the Stephen D. Fantone Distinguished Service Award. Baer is being honored for over three decades of dedicated service and visionary leadership to Optica, including broadening Optica’s topical focus to include Biomedical Optics and expanding Optica’s global footprint and recognition through public policy programs such as the National Photonics Initiative and the Global Environmental Measurement and Monitoring Initiative.
Baer is an Adjunct Professor in Applied Physics at Stanford University and the CEO of Apaiz, Inc. His early research in solid-state and ultrafast lasers led to fundamental advances in laser science and laser design. He has also made significant contributions to the application of photonics in biomedicine.
Baer has played a pivotal role in shaping Optica’s programs and initiatives. He was the founding Chair of the Biomedical Optics Division, served as Chair of both CLEO and Frontiers in Optics, Optica’s Annual Meeting, and was a member of the Board of Directors, serving as President in 2009. His leadership extended to launching several major initiatives, including LaserFest, the National Photonics Initiative, the Global Environmental Measurement and Monitoring (GEMM) Initiative, and the Global Health Initiative (GHI).
A serial entrepreneur, Baer has founded five companies, serving as CEO or senior executive, and has played a key role in translating scientific discoveries into commercially successful technologies. His research has resulted in over 100 publications and 86 US patents, with his inventions developed into many commercial products. These products have generated several billion dollars in commercial sales and received widespread recognition for technological innovation.
Baer is a Fellow of Optica and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and an International Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He has also received the Robert E. Hopkins Leadership Award.
Established in 1973, the Distinguished Service Award is presented to individuals who, over an extended period of time, have served the Society in an outstanding way, especially through volunteer participation in its management, operation, or planning in such ways as editorship of a periodical, organization of meetings, or other service to the Society. The award was created in memory of Stephen M. MacNeille and was named in honor of Stephen D. Fantone in 2013. It is endowed by the American Optical Corporation and contributions from individual members.
About Optica
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.
