March 8, 2006, Washington, DC--The Optical Society of America (OSA) and SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering (Bellingham, WA) has has named Harrison H. Barrett and Kyle J. Myers recipients of the first Joseph W. Goodman Book Writing Award for their work, Foundations of Image Science.
A biennial award funded by the J.W. & H.M. Goodman Foundation, the Goodman Award recognizes a recent and outstanding book in the field of optics and photonics that has contributed significantly to research, teaching, or the optics and photonics industry. As this year's recipients, Barrett and Myers will share the $5,000 prize and will accept the award at an upcoming OSA or SPIE meeting.
Described by a joint awards committee from the two societies as "a superb example of scientific and technical writing" and "likely to become the standard text for the next generations of students interested in image science," the Barrett and Myers volume explores the basic theories behind imaging systems, including the principles, mathematics, and statistics needed to understand and evaluate these systems. Published by John Wiley & Sons, the work provides a strong foundation for graduate and undergraduate students and workers in the field exploring imaging science, from satellites to medicine and beyond.
The selection committee, chaired by Anthony Siegman, reviewed a dozen initial nominations chose six top finalists based on recognition and merit within the community. Then, each member of the committee reviewed each finalist work, sought outside opinions, and reconvened to make a decision on the winning book.
"While all of the finalist works were of very high quality, committee members agreed that Foundations of Image Science was the right choice. As one of our reviewers remarked, this is a book that should be found on the bedside table of any imaging science researcher," said Anthony Siegman, selection committee chair. "On behalf of the committee, I would like to congratulate Harrison Barrett and Kyle Myers."
To be eligible for the award, books must meet several requirements. By the terms of the Goodman grant, books to be considered should have been recently published, and should be "authored" technical books rather than edited compilations, handbooks, reviews, or popular science books. Additionally, nominated books must be in print currently, readily available from the publisher and suppliers and must be available in English.
Nominations for the first Goodman Award were solicited through August 1, 2005. Any member of the optics and photonics community was able to nominate a book meeting the eligibility requirements. Nominations consisted of a 300- to 500-word narrative describing how the nominated book has "contributed significantly to research, to teaching, or to the optics and photonics industry," a short biographical note on the person making the nomination, and basic book information, including its full title, the full name of author, publisher, and date of publication.
Donated jointly to OSA and SPIE and managed by the OSA Foundation, the endowment for this award was provided by a personal gift from Joseph W. and Hon Mai Goodman. The Joseph W. Goodman Book Writing Award thus becomes a new addition to the prestigious industry and professional awards already offered by OSA and SPIE.
When citing why he wanted to sponsor this award, Professor Goodman said, "Scientific and technical books can have an important impact on progress in optics. Recognition of important books as a substantial contribution to the field will hopefully encourage book writing by researchers and educators at all stages of their professional careers, and will benefit not only the book writers, but also the field of optics."
In addition to the winning work, five honorable mentions were selected from among this year's nominees, including:
Nonlinear Fiber Optics, 3rd edition, G.P. Agrawal, Academic Press/2001
Nonlinear Optics, 2nd edition, Robert W. Boyd, Academic Press/2003
Optical Imaging and Aberrations, Part II. Wave Diffraction Optics, Virendra N. Mahajan, SPIE Press/2001
Classical Optics and Its Applications, Masud Mansuripur, Cambridge Univ. Press/2001
Modern Lens Design, Warren Smith, McGraw-Hill & SPIE Press/2005.