OSA Names 2011 VP

The Optical Society of America (OSA) announced recently that its members have elected Donna T. Strickland as its 2011 vice president. In addition, three directors at large were also chosen at this year’s election, including Naomi J. Halas or Rice University, Eric Mazur of Harvard University and Jannick P. Rolland of the University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics.

From the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, Strickland has accepted the vice presidency. In doing so, she has made a four-year commitment to OSA’s board of directors. She will automatically become president-elect in 2012 and then serve as the society’s president in 2013. She will follow up with a one-year term as past president.

An active member of OSA for several years, she has held many leadership roles in the society’s publishing, awards and meetings initiatives, as well as on the board of directors. In addition, she has served on the editorial board of OSA’s member magazine, Optics & Photonics News, and is currently a topical editor for OSA’s journal Optics Letters.

Strickland has also chaired both the Archie McMahon and R.W. Wood prize committees, and has served on the program committee for OSA’s International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena. She is the program co-chair for OSA’s annual meeting, Frontiers in Optics 2010.

Other duties at OSA have included acting as a member of the society’s Member & Education Services Council from 2004-2006, serving as an OSA director at large from 2005-2007, and sitting on the board’s executive committee during 2006-2007.

Currently, she is the OSA-appointed vice president to the board of the International Commission for Optics.

Along with Strickland, the new directors at large will begin their terms on Jan. 1, 2011. They will replace three outgoing members of the board of directors. The new directors will hold their positions for three years each.

With more than 106,000 professionals from 134 countries, OSA brings together the global optics community through its programs and initiatives. The society works to advance the common interest of the field, providing educational resources to scientists, engineers and business leaders who work in the field by promoting science of light and the advanced technologies made possible by optics and photonics.

For more information, visit: www.osa.org