SPIE, the International Society for Optics and Photonics, Announces Its 2026 Society Awards

The 22 award recipients represent an exciting range of stellar achievements across light-based sciences and technologies

Today, the Awards Committee of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, announced the recipients of its prestigious annual awards. Honoring transformative advancements across a range of professional areas — including medicine, astronomy, lithography, optical metrology, optical design, and community leadership — the Society's awards recognize technical accomplishments as well as committed service to SPIE and support of its organizational mission.

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SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, awarded their Gold Medal to Maryellen Giger (pictured here with her team) for pioneering work in computer-aided diagnosis and image analysis/AI, significant impact on clinical translation, and supporting the next generation of medical-imaging scientists and the SPIE community.

SPIE Gold Medal: Maryellen Giger
For pioneering work in computer-aided diagnosis and image analysis/AI, significant impact on clinical translation, and supporting the next generation of medical-imaging scientists and the SPIE community.

SPIE President's Award: James Sydor
For visionary leadership, philanthropy, and service to SPIE and the precision optics community through advancements in optical fabrication, support of optics education, and professional training of current and future technicians.

SPIE Directors' Award: Xiao-Cong (Larry) Yuan and Anatoly Zayats
For exceptional leadership in founding the high-impact journal Advanced Photonics as co-editor-in-chiefs. Since 2019, the journal has showcased innovative research and raised the prestige of SPIE publishing.

SPIE Mozi Award: Hui Cao
For pioneering work in novel light sources, and demonstrating a wide range of applications in imaging, sensing, and random number generation.

SPIE Aden and Marjorie Meinel Technology Achievement Award: Sos Agaian
For pioneering contributions to computational perception-based image processing, particularly in blind image quality assessment and randomness measurement, leading to significant advancements in image editing and medical imaging.

SPIE A.E. Conrady Award in Optical Engineering: Ching-Cherng Sun
For outstanding optical engineering contributions in the advancement of design, development, and testing of solid-state LED lighting.

SPIE Biophotonics Technology Innovator Award: Jürgen Popp
For contributions to the clinical translation of Raman spectroscopy, enabling real-time, label-free diagnostics in oncology and infectious disease, and advancing biophotonics from concept to clinical application.

SPIE Britton Chance Biomedical Optics Award: Irving Bigio
For pioneering elastic scattering spectroscopy and translating it into a clinically impactful diagnostic tool, and for mentoring a generation of leaders in translational biomedical optics.

SPIE Chandra S. Vikram Award in Optical Metrology: James Burge
For lifetime achievement in optical metrology with astronomical instrumentation innovations, technology commercialization, and career-long mentorship, guidance, and team-building in the precision optics and astronomy communities.

SPIE Dennis Gabor Award in Diffractive Optics: Shin-Tson Wu
For pioneering contributions to large-angle liquid crystal polarization volume gratings and their widespread applications for augmented reality and virtual reality displays.

SPIE Diversity Outreach Award: Kimani Toussaint
For the promotion of inclusion, diversity, and equity in the development of biomedical diagnostics, in optics research and mentoring, and in public outreach and awareness.

SPIE Early Career Achievement Award — Academic Focus: Alex Walsh
For innovations in label-free optical microscopy through integration of fluorescence lifetime imaging and machine learning, and for outstanding mentorship and service contributions within the community.

SPIE Early Career Achievement Award — Industry/Government Focus: Amirhossein Ghods
For pioneering manufacturable, next-generation VCSEL platforms that advance quantum, biomedical, and dual-use sensing across industry and defense.

SPIE Frits Zernike Award for Microlithography: Andreas Erdmann
For contributions to the understanding and modeling of image formation and resist patterning in deep and EUV lithography, especially photomasks’ 3D effect, and for lithography education.

SPIE G. G. Stokes Award in Optical Polarization: Siddharth Ramachandran
For seminal contributions in the area of spatially and vectorially structured light in optical fibers.

SPIE Harold E. Edgerton Award in High-Speed Optics: Peter Delfyett
For pioneering contributions to the field of low-noise, high-power, ultrafast semiconductor lasers and their commercial applications.

SPIE Harrison H. Barrett Award in Medical Imaging: Norbert Pelc
For defining the fields of X-ray, CT, and MR imaging for over 40 years, impacting clinical care, and inspiring, nurturing, and encouraging generations of clinicians and scientists.

SPIE Maiman Laser Award: Edik Rafailov
For pioneering contributions to high-power aluminum-free diode lasers and ultrafast quantum dot laser technology, and their transformative impact on non-linear optics and biomedical photonics.

SPIE Maria Goeppert Mayer Award in Photonics: Carmen Menoni
For pioneering innovations in extreme ultraviolet photonics, the research and development of advanced amorphous oxide coatings for laser science, and community leadership.

SPIE María J. Yzuel Educator Award: Bahaa Saleh
For significant contributions to education in optics, photonics, and image science.

SPIE George W. Goddard Award in Space and Airborne Optics: Lee Feinberg
For outstanding leadership through the design, integration, and delivery of optical systems that brought the objectives of the Webb and Hubble space telescopes into clear focus.

The complete listing of the SPIE Society Awards and their recipients is available here.

About SPIE

SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, brings engineers, scientists, students, and business professionals together to advance light-based science and technology. The Society, founded in 1955, connects and engages with our global constituency through industry-leading conferences and exhibitions; publications of conference proceedings, books, and journals in the SPIE Digital Library; and career-building opportunities. Over the past five years, we have invested more than $26 million in the international optics community through our advocacy and support, including scholarships, educational resources, travel grants, endowed gifts, and public-policy development.

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