Stephen D. Fantone '79 (PhD) recognized by The Rochester Distinguished Scholar Award

April 29, 2015

Stephen D. Fantone ’79 (PhD) is president of Optikos Corporation, a Massachusetts-based optical engineering firm he founded in 1982. Optikos provides metrology products, engineering design, and manufacturing services for product development.

In 1974, Fantone received bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering and management from MIT. In 1979, he earned his PhD in optics from the University of Rochester. In 1978, while completing his PhD, he joined Polaroid Corporation and played a key role in product and technology development there for more than two decades.

Fantone has served on many program review panels, provided expert testimony on patent infringement and trade secret litigation cases, and been awarded more than 65 patents. He is a senior lecturer in the mechanical engineering department at MIT; chairman of the Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research; and a board member of Rofin-Sinar Technologies, Inc., the Hertz Foundation, and The Optical Society (OSA) Foundation.

Actively engaged with OSA for more than 40 years, he was awarded its Distinguished Service Award in 2007. In 2013, OSA honored Fantone by renaming that award the Stephen D. Fantone Distinguished Service Award.

At the University, Fantone has led many projects in support of optics and engineering. He is the chair of the Boston/New England Regional Campaign and is a member of the Boston Regional Cabinet and the Dean’s Advisory Committee for the Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Prof. Fantone's speech