Duncan T. Moore, an internationally recognized expert on lens design at the University of Rochester's Institute of Optics, has been named dean of the University's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). The school, a unit of the University's College, includes the departments of chemical, electrical, and mechanical engineering, as well as the Institute of Optics.
Moore, the Rudolf and Hilda Kingslake Professor of Optical Engineering, is well known around the world for his work on gradient-index or GRIN lenses, a special type of lens that mimics the way insect eyes work and allows light to travel in curved paths. GRIN lenses often take the place of many optical elements and are used in low-cost medical endoscopes, desk-top copiers and fax machines.
In the past decade Moore has played a pivotal role in modernizing the optics industry. His research on using computers to guide the design and manufacture of lenses quickly and precisely, along with similar work at Kodak, formed the basis for the Center for Optics Manufacturing (COM). COM was created in 1989 as a joint effort by universities, the optics industry and the U.S. Department of Defense to bring the technology to optics companies; small companies throughout Rochester and the world, and larger ones such as Kodak and Texas Instruments, have taken advantage of COM's technology. For 10 years Moore also headed the University's New York State Center for Advanced Optical Technology, which worked closely with such companies as Kodak, Xerox and RG&E to develop new optics technologies.
Moore recently finished serving a one-year appointment as science and technology adviser to Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia. Last year he was elected vice president of the Optical Society of America and will become president of the 12,000-member organization next year.
A member of the faculty since 1974, Moore is a fellow of the OSA and the International Society of Optical Engineering. He holds 11 patents and founded his own company, Gradient Lens Corp., in 1980. He has received several prizes for his research and business skills, including the Greater Rochester Metro Chamber of Commerce Science and Technology Award, a research award from the Japanese Applied Physics Society, and the Distinguished Inventor Award from the Rochester Intellectual Property Law Association Inc. He also headed NASA's Hubble Independent Optical Review Panel, which determined the exact condition of the flawed mirror on the Hubble Telescope.
Moore earned his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Maine and his master's and Ph.D. degrees in optics from the University.
He succeeds Bruce Arden, William F. May Professor of Engineering, who has been dean of the school since 1986. Arden will continue to serve as vice provost for computing. tr Editor's Note: Moore lives on Claret Drive in Fairport.