Optical and IR component manufacturer LightPath Technologies Inc. has joined the Center for Freeform Optics (CeFO) at the University of Rochester. “We are extremely excited about LightPath joining the Center for Freeform Optics,” said Matt Davies, professor and site director for CeFO. “This brings a new capability to CeFO: precision glass molding. LightPath's membership in the CeFO, to work on a new three-year collaborative project on the precision molding of glass freeform optics, was enthusiastically and unanimously supported by the sixteen member industrial advisory board of the center.” CeFO is a shared industry-government-university cooperative research center funded primarily through industry and government lab members. The mission of the CeFO is to advance research and education in the science, engineering and applications of systems based on freeform optics through a dedicated, continuing industrial partnership based on shared value and promotion of technical advantage leading to a competitive economic advantage for CeFO members. “The center leadership and the industrial advisory board see the low-cost precision molding of glass freeform optics enabled by this project as a path for bringing new freeform optical systems to the market and look forward to this new research and development partnership with LightPath,” Davies said. “LightPath strives to be at the forefront of the freeform revolution. Joining the Center for Freeform Optics and its development of freeform technology roadmaps will accelerate time to market of these new technologies while giving LightPath an opportunity to demonstrate innovative proficiencies,” said Jim Gaynor, LightPath’s president and CEO. LightPath is a vertically integrated provider of optics, photonics and IR solutions for the industrial, defense, telecommunications, testing and measurement and medical industries.