Martin Richardson has been awarded a Jefferson Fellowship at the State Department for a year beginning mid-August. He will be involved in technology assessment and policy at the national and international level. Jefferson fellowships are prestigious appointments to senior academics selected by the National Academy of Sciences. Richardson has directed and promoted several international partnerships and agreements for UCF including an NSF International REU program, the Atlantis MILMI international Master’s degree in optics, lasers and optical materials, a co-tutelle Ph.D degree with Bordeaux University, and several other international programs. He will be one of three previous Jefferson Fellows in optics, lasers and photonics, and the first for the last seven years. Appointed at a time when there is increasing public recognition of the importance of these topics to the national economy with the creation of the National Photonics Initiative (NPI), the establishment of new centers of technology under the National Network of Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI), new applications of lasers for national defense and security, and the United Nations (UNO) celebration of 2015 as the International Year of Light (IYL), Richardson will enhance UCF’s stature as a major academic institution in optics, lasers and photonic technologies. He will continue his responsibilities at UCF and travel weekly to Washington.
Posted Tuesday, May 27, 2014
