Biography

Dr. Kathleen Richardson is currently Pegasus Professor of Optics and Materials Science and Engineering at CREOL/College of Optics and Photonics at the University of Central FL, where she runs the Glass Processing and Characterization Laboratory (GPCL). In 2018, she was appointed a Florida Photonics Center of Excellence (FPCE) professor for her ongoing commitments to education and research supporting industry. Prof. Richardson and her research team carry out synthesis and characterization of novel glass and glass ceramic materials for optical applications, examining the role of structure/property relationships on resulting optical function and performance in bulk, planar and fiber optical materials. Dr. Richardson’s group has extensive industrial and government supported research developing novel materials for gradient refractive index (GRIN) optics, precision molded optics, evaluation of complex multi-material interactions in next-generation integrated opto-electronic chip design, and in optical nano-composites for advanced chem-bio and detection applications. Prof. Richardson’s group is a leading source of global expertise in the design, fabrication and characterization of next generation materials for use in infrared components and systems based on diverse optical applications.  She has authored more than 250 peer-reviewed publications, numerous proceedings and book chapters, has a broad portfolio of IP related to these advances, and has organized and chaired multiple domestic and international meetings within her discipline. 

In 2016, Dr. Richardson was appointed as Curator to the Board of Trustees for the Ernst Abbe Fund, Deutsches Stiftung, GERMANY, and was elected as an Academician of the World Academy of Ceramics.  Prof. Richardson has an extensive record of prior service, previously serving on the Board of Directors of the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) and the American Ceramic Society (ACerS), as an external advisory/scientific board member for the Savannah River National Laboratory (US Dept. of Energy), Virginia Tech’s Materials Science and Engineering Department, the NSF-ERC on Mid-Infrared Technologies for Health and the Environment (MIRTHE) at Princeton University and as part of the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Ultrahigh-bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS), in Sydney Australia.

Dr. Richardson is Past-President of the American Ceramic Society (ACerS), a past-Chair of ACerS’ Glass and Optical Materials Division (GOMD) and a past-President of the National Institute of Ceramic Engineers (NICE). She presently serves on the Coordinating Technical Committee (CTC) and Advisory Committee (AC) of the International Commission on Glass (ICG).

Professor Richardson is a recognized world leader in infrared glass research and education, and because of these efforts, currently holds the rank of Fellow, in the American Ceramic Society, the Society of Glass Technology (UK), SPIE and the Optical Society of America (OSA). Since 2006, she has served as a member of the Board of Trustees at Alfred University.