Meadowlark Optics founder, Tom Baur establishes first Endowed Chair at JILA

$2.5 million gift from Baur, SPIE and University of Colorado Boulder

FREDERICK, CO, UNITED STATES, June 19, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Meadowlark Optics, Inc. (Meadowlark) today announced Tom Baur, Founder, and the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) have created the first endowed faculty chair at JILA. The Baur-SPIE Endowed Chair in Optics and Photonics will be funded by gifts of $1.5 million from Tom and Jeanne Baur, $500,000 from SPIE, and another $500,000 from CU Boulder.

Education and learning have always been a key focus for Tom and Jeanne whether in the classroom or at the company Tom founded, Meadowlark Optics. Tom’s passion for optics started while employed at the High Altitude Observatory, a division of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. He spent 13 years there as an Observational Astronomer after graduating from the University of Michigan and then with a master’s degree in Astro-Geophysics in 1969 from CU Boulder.

Meadowlark has benefited from its relationships with JILA and CU Boulder through joint research projects and the ability to recruit highly skilled graduates to the company. Tom has a great deal of respect for the optical research community at JILA and wants to see the program continue to be a leading research institution. By providing this gift for a faculty chair, the $2.5 million fund will enable JILA to expand its research and education capacity in optical physics and photonics.

“It is essential to the photonics industry that technology and innovation be led by JILA and other institutions,” said Garry Gorsuch, President of Meadowlark Optics. “This effort will help industry through the focused attention an endowed chair provides.”

About Meadowlark
Meadowlark Optics, located in Frederick, CO, manufactures polarization solution components including liquid crystal shutters, rotators and spatial light modulators for wavelengths ranging from the UV to the MWIR. OEM customers and researchers world-wide use the products in a variety of applications including microscopy, aerospace, defense, telecommunications, automotive, semiconductor manufacturing, medical devices and more. To ensure precision and top quality, our 20,000 SF headquarters boasts the latest in clean rooms, optical fabrication, and metrology facilities. www.meadowlark.com.
About JILA
JILA’s optics and photonics researchers are leaders in the field, particularly in creating ultrafast laser pulses. JILA researchers have developed lasers that deliver pulses in the femtosecond (10-15 second or one quadrillionth of a second) and attosecond (10-18 second or one quintillionth of a second) pulses. Those speeds are fast enough to capture phenomenon like the formation of molecules and the movement of electrons. JILA’s optics research has also advanced scientists’ control of new, powerful wavelengths of light, such as ultraviolet and X-ray.

Kelly Gregorak
Meadowlark Optics
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