SPIE and the University of Colorado Announce $2.5 Million Baur-SPIE Endowed Chair in Optics and Photonics at JILA

The gift is part of a $2.5 million SPIE education-funding initiative for optics and photonics

BELLINGHAM, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On 18 June, SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, announced the establishment of the Baur-SPIE Endowed Chair in Optics and Photonics at JILA. JILA is a joint institute of University of Colorado, Boulder (CU Boulder), and the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST). The $500,000 in funding from SPIE is being matched 3:1 by a gift of $1.5 million from Tom and Jeanne Baur. CU Boulder is committing an additional $500,000. The $2.5 million fund will support the very first endowed chair at JILA.

The Baur-SPIE Endowed Chair in Optics and Photonics will enable JILA to expand its research and education capacity in optical physics and photonics, providing comprehensive support for a faculty chair. Preference will be given to early-to-mid-career researchers affiliated with groups historically under-represented at CU Boulder, as well as to academics who have an established interest in teaching and mentoring.

Tom Baur was a first-generation college student at the University of Michigan. He received an MS Degree in astro-geophysics in 1969 from CU Boulder and then worked for 13 years as an observational astronomer at the High Altitude Observatory, a division of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. He founded Meadowlark Optics, a well-respected technology company, now located in Frederick, Colorado, in a business park developed by Tom and Jeanne, a former research librarian.

The company has benefited from the proximity to and interaction with JILA and CU Boulder faculty and students: both educational institutions have been a significant source of employees for Meadowlark Optics, and the company has had successful joint research programs with CU Boulder and with NIST. In 2018, Tom was the recipient of the SPIE G.G. Stokes Award for a lifetime of leadership in polarization optical components, and for revolutionizing the polarization field through commercialization of liquid crystal variable retarders (LCVRs).

“Jeanne and I have been life-long learners and much of that learning has been outside the classroom,” notes Tom. “We have a strong respect for the hard work of the optical research community at JILA that we are supporting. We hope that our contribution will inspire others to contribute to the advancement of optical research at JILA and elsewhere.”

“This generous gift from Tom and Jeanne will give JILA the opportunity to expand its optics and photonics focus by hiring from the best and the brightest of teaching researchers,” said SPIE President John Greivenkamp. “We are delighted to support higher education and research – a core purpose of SPIE – by creating this endowed faculty position with the Baur family. The chair holder will be a critical supporter of current and future generations of optics and photonics scientists and engineers, and we are excited to be a part of this far-reaching effort.”

“JILA is extremely grateful for this generous gift by Tom and Jeanne Baur, CU, and SPIE. We are thrilled for their support of the research and teaching activities in optics and photonics at JILA,” says JILA Fellows Chair Andreas Becker. “This endowed Chair position will truly make a difference in our abilities to attract the best educators and brightest scientists in this area now and in future.”

The SPIE Endowment Matching Program, established in 2019, is a $2.5 million, five-year, educational-funding initiative designed to increase international capacity in the teaching and research of optics and photonics. SPIE supports optics and photonics education and the future of the industry by contributing up to $500,000 per award to college and university programs with optics and photonics degrees, or with other disciplines allied to the SPIE mission. The initial SPIE contribution to the University of Arizona named a new endowed faculty chair, the SPIE Chair in Optical Sciences. Two more agreements announced earlier this year established the SPIE-Glebov Family Optics and Photonics Graduate Scholarship Fund and the Soileau Family-SPIE Optics and Photonics Undergraduate Scholarship Fund, both at the University of Central Florida’s (UCF) College of Optics and Photonics (CREOL).

About SPIE

SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics, an educational not-for-profit organization founded in 1955 to advance light-based science, engineering, and technology. The Society serves more than 255,000 constituents from 183 countries, offering conferences and their published proceedings, continuing education, books, journals, and the SPIE Digital Library. In 2019, SPIE provided more than $5.6 million in community support including scholarships and awards, outreach and advocacy programs, travel grants, public policy, and educational resources. www.spie.org