Synopsys Inc. has announced the winners of the 2011 Robert S. Hilbert Memorial Optical Design Competition, two University of Rochester students who were recognized for their achievements in optical design. Samples of their projects were on display this week at SPIE Optics + Photonics at the San Diego Convention Center. Bin Ma, a doctoral candidate, was recognized for his work on aspheric lens design using Synopsys’ Code V software in his paper titled, “Design of Lithographic Lenses with Slope Constrained Q-Polynomials.” His project has applications for ultraprecise projector lenses used to make integrated circuits. Dustin Moore, also a doctoral candidate, was recognized for his work on a panoramic imaging system using Code V software in his paper titled, “A High Resolution Four-Pi Steradian Panoramic Video System.” His goal was to improve the quality of systems providing 360° interactive video. The competition was created in 2000 by Optical Research Associates, now the Optical Solutions Group, at Synopsys and was named in honor of ORA’s former president and CEO, Robert S. Hilbert. The annual competition is open to students in North America working toward a bachelor’s, master’s or PhD degree who utilize the company’s Code V or LightTools software to perform optical design and engineering research. Synopsys supplies the global electronics market with software, intellectual property and services used in semiconductor design, verification and manufacturing. For more information, visit: www.synopsys.com