Ultrafast laser pioneer Alfano wins prestigious OSA biophotonics award

Dr. Robert R. Alfano, whose work in ultrafast laser technology has been a major contributor to biophotonics, is the 2016 recipient of the Optical Society of America's Michael S. Feld Biophotonics Award.

Alfano, a Distinguished Professor of Science and Engineering at The City College of New York (CCNY), founded the Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers (IUSL) at CCNY. His seminal contributions to biophotonics include comprising the diverse use of label-free native fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy, and optical imaging for cancer detection in tissues and cells, according to the Optical Society of America (OSA).

CCNY physicist Robert Alfano, whose seminal work in ultrafast laser technology has been a major contributor to biophotonics.

Alfano's most recent research honors include the APS Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science (2013), the SPIE Britton Chance Biomedical Optics Award (2012), and the Optical Society of America Charles Hard Townes Award (2008). He holds 114 patents, has raised $64 million in photonics research funding, and has mentored 56 PhD students at CCNY since 1972. And the third edition of his book, The Supercontinuum Laser Source: The Ultimate White Light (Springer), was published in February 2016.

He will be honored at the OSA annual meeting in October 2016 at the University of Rochester in New York. For more information, please visit www.osa.org.