Stephen D. Fantone

Stephen D. Fantone received B.S. degrees in electrical engineering and management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1974. In 1979, he received a Ph.D. in optics from the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester.

In 1978, he joined Polaroid Corporation where he eventually became a Senior Principal Engineer in the Optical Engineering Department. He played a key role in the development of amateur camera products, and managed a prototype optical shop, an optical production laboratory, and an optical evaluation lab. One of his most important contributions was the design of the Spectra™ camera viewfinder, and the design of automatic test equipment for the viewfinder assembly machine. A brief hiatus from Polaroid in 1981 found Stephen serving as Chief Engineer at Frank Cooke, Inc., responsible for day-to-day management of the facility, and the development of novel fabrication techniques. In 1982, he founded Optikos Corporation of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Optikos Corporation is an optical engineering firm specializing in optical instrumentation, test equipment, system design, and the fabrication of custom optical components and systems. Stephen has designed the optics for many commercial and industrial optical products ranging from photographic systems to medical instruments and toys. In 1995 he became a director of Benthos, Inc. located in North Falmouth, Massachusetts. Benthos manufactures remote sensing equipment for the oceanographic and container inspection industries. He has served as Benthos's chairman of the board since 1997.

Stephen has been a member of the OSA since 1973. He has been active in the New England section having served as president, secretary, and councilor section. In December of 1989, Stephen was program chair of the technical program committee for the New England Regional Engineering Workshop. His national OSA support has included: chairman of the Optical Fabrication and Testing Technical Group 1983-84, and vice chairman 1981-82; chairman of the Joseph Fraunhofer Award Committee; participation in the planning of many OF&T workshops from 1978-1990; chairperson of the OSA's Engineering Council and member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors from 1994-1997; and chairman of the Edwin H. Land Medal Committee 1996. Stephen was co-chair of LEAP '96, the first annual Laser and Electro-optic Applications Program, at CLEO. Since 1997, he has served as Treasurer of the OSA. He was editor of the "Optical Activities in Industry" column in Applied Optics and served as topical editor of optical design and fabrication for the same publication from 1991-1996. Stephen has been a member of the SPIE since 1974. He served on the metrology review board for the Hubble Telescope Repair and the AXAF Programs. Stephen was named an OSA Fellow in 1985. In 2007, he received the OSA Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes outstanding service to the Society over an extended period of time.

Stephen was awarded the Fannie and John Hertz Fellowship from 1975 to 1978, and the College of Engineering Fellowship, University of Rochester in 1974 and 1975. He is a senior lecturer in the mechanical department of MIT. He has been awarded more than 50 US patents.