Optical sensing and spectroscopy product manufacturer Ocean Optics of Dunedin, Fla., has appointed Jason M. Eichenholz, PhD, as its vice president of research and technology. Eichenholz, formerly director of strategic marketing for Newport Corp., will direct research activities, with an emphasis on collaborative projects in industry and academia, and develop products and applications for the company’s line of miniature fiber optic spectrometers, optical sensors, sampling accessories, light sources, fibers, probes, thin films and optics. Eichenholz has more than 15 years of laser and photonics research and product development experience. He has written more than 30 papers and been granted six US patents relating to solid-state lasers, displays and photonics devices. A member of SPIE, IEEE-LEOS and OSA, he chairs the OSA Laser Science and Engineering Technical Group and is a member of the OSA Science and Engineering Council. Eichenholz earned master's and doctorate degrees in optical sciences and engineering from the College of Optics and Photonics at the University of Central Florida, Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers, and a bachelor's degree in physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.