Fellows Nomination

The next deadline for fellows nominations is June 15.

OSA bylaws specify that, “Any regular member who has served with distinction in the advancement of optics is eligible for transfer to the class of fellow.” Fellow members are limited to no more than 10% of the OSA membership and the number elected each year is limited to 0.4% of the current membership.

Your participation in identifying worthy nominees is an essential part of the process for recognizing outstanding members. The Fellow Members Committee considers the following criteria when evaluating nominations; no individual is expected to meet all of them:

• Record of significant publications related to optics or photonics
• Record of significant patents related to optics or photonics
• Presentation of invited papers at OSA meetings
• Substantial service to OSA or the global optics and photonics community
  
• An outstanding optics/photonics invention
• Remarkable achievements in optics or photonics
• Development of a new instrument of broadbase use to the optics community
• Use of creative reproduction and manufacturing approaches or development resulting in the widespread adoption of a specific instrument or measurement technique
• Distinguished record of consistent (but not necessarily breakthrough) engineering-oriented ideas or improvements
• Creation of outstanding software
• Outstanding management ability

Only OSA Fellows can submit a Fellow nomination. As far as possible, Fellows are encouraged to nominate colleagues from outside their own institution. In any case, the nominator should ensure broad consensus of support for their nominee by soliciting letters of recommendation from outside the nominee's institution.

Just fill out the nomination form online or download the PDF form. The material submitted by the nominator may not exceed 10 pages in length (in legible font, single-sided, on regular paper). The 10-page limit does not include the reference letters.

Arrange for at least three (and no more than five) people familiar with the nominee's work to fill out Fellow Reference Forms. The three to five references should be listed on your nomination form and each should complete a Fellow Reference form to be sent under separate cover to OSA by June 15. At least one of the references must be a current OSA Fellow and only one should be from the same institution as the nominee.

Nominations are reviewed each summer by the Fellow Members Committee and approved by the OSA Board of Directors at its fall meeting. Elected Fellows are notified in November, with a blind copy of the letter sent to the nominator. For nominees not selected, notification is sent to the nominator (not the nominee). If a nomination is not selected, it can be considered again once more by the following year’s committee. However, the nominator will need to submit an updated vita and publications list by June 15 of the next year. After review by two committees, a nominee cannot be considered again for at least two years (as of 2009).