Optifab 2005, an optical fabrication conference at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center this week, has been dedicated to the memory of Harvey Pollicove, founder of the Center for Optics Manufacturing (COM) at the University of Rochester. Pollicove was chair of the first Optifab conference two years ago in Rochester. He died on Jan. 25 of this year at age 59.
After earning his bachelor’s degree from the University in 1973, Pollicove spent the majority of his career in optics manufacturing at Eastman Kodak Company. In the 70s, Pollicove led the Kodak manufacturing team that developed and implemented a lens-fabrication process that allowed the creation of disk cameras, and later he helped develop a similar process that led to better optics in CD players. He held various management positions in optics manufacturing, production engineering, and technical market sales.
In 1990, Pollicove retired from Kodak to join the University and establish the Center for Optics Manufacturing with Duncan Moore, who was at that time the director of the Institute of Optics. The center researchers design methods to produce lenses and other optical components that are traditionally difficult or impossible to create.
Pollicove was an honorary member of both the Rochester Section of the Optical Society of America and the Hong Kong Photographic and Optics Manufacturers Association. He was active in U.S. and international optics standards, and chaired both the Optics and Electro-optics Standards Council and American Society of Mechanical Engineers optical standards committees. He helped and advised numerous optical companies during his tenure at COM and was appointed to the Edmund Industrial Optics’ Board of Directors. He had twice received the Department of Defense Manufacturing Technology Achievement Award and was a co-recipient of an R&D 100 Award in 2001.