Rochester Regional Photonics Cluster announces its 2013 Annual Awards

Rochester, NY--As recently described in its blog, the Rochester Regional Photonics Cluster (RRPC) presented three annual awards and a special lifetime achievement award at its 2013 annual meeting on September 5th at the Rochester Museum & Science Center. The RRPC is a not-for-profit organization that supports the New York State photonics, optics, and imaging industry by boosting cooperation between business, academia, and government.

Entrepreneurship Award
The RRPC Entrepreneurship Award went to Michael Bechtold, CEO of OptiPro (Ontario, NY), for "demonstrating creativity, innovative spirit and drive in pursuit of the dream of creating an industry-leading company in the Optics, Photonics and Imaging Industry." Bechtold and his brother, Bob, founded OptiPro in 1982 and moved it to Ontario county in 1984. Bechtold began working with the University of Rochester's Center for Optics Manufacturing (COM) in 1990 designing and manufacturing deterministic-optics manufacturing machine tools and metrology equipment, which became one of OptiPro's specialties.

Leadership Award
The RRPC Leadership Award was awarded to Paul Ballentine, associate director of the Center for Emerging and Innovative Sciences (CEIS) at the University of Rochester, for "working with RRPC members and the community to promote the Rochester Region’s Optics, Photonics and Imaging Industry." Ballentine moved back to Rochester from Austin, Texas in 2011 to take a leadership position at CEIS. He led the team that won the Rochester Regional Optics and Photonics Jobs Accelerator grant award in 2012, "convening the University of Rochester, Rochester Institute of Technology, High Technology of Rochester, Monroe Community College, and RRPC in a multi-pronged effort to increase jobs in the region’s Optics and Photonics small and medium-size enterprises," according to the RRPC blog.

Education Award
The RRPC Education Award went to James Van Kouwenberg, training coordinator and master optician at Optimax Systems (Ontario, NY), for "inspiring students to embrace Optics, Photonics, and Imaging sciences and guiding them in career development." Van Kouwenberg is a graduate of the Monroe Community College (MCC) Optical Systems Technology program. MCC is a well-known and respected source of education and training for optical technicians, and has collaborated with the RRPC since 2011 on the RRPC Optics "Summer Sizzler" program to get local high-school student interested in optics. Van Kouwenberg has worked with the Summer Sizzler, and also with East High School’s Optics Manufacturing program.

Optics & Photonics Award
The RRPC Optics & Photonics Award was awarded to U.S. congresswoman Louise Slaughter (Representative 25th District, NY) for her "longstanding support of Rochester’s Optics, Photonics and Imaging industry." Since 2004, Slaughter has been able to secure more than $682 million in funding for the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics. Slaughter recently secured $2 million in funding for a project that includes ITT Exelis Rochester (a maker of night vision and remote sensing systems), the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, and QED Technologies (which is well-known for its MRF deterministic optical polishing systems, as well as its subaperture stitching interferometer SSI-A metrology tools).

For more info on the RRPC, see http://www.rrpc-ny.org/