Professor named International Society for Optics and Photonics fellow

Marcelo Dapino, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, the Honda R&D Americas Designated Chair in Engineering, and director of the NSF IUCRC Smart Vehicle Concepts Center has been named a fellow of the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE).

SPIE fellows earn this distinction by making significant scientific and technical contributions to the multidisciplinary fields of optics, photonics, and imaging.  More than 1,500 SPIE members have become Fellows since the Society's inception in 1955.

Dapino was selected for outstanding technical contributions in the field of smart materials and structures and for extensive service over the past 20 years to the SPIE Smart Structures and Nondestructive Evaluation conference.

Prof. Dapino is widely recognized in the field of smart materials for the development of transitional research programs that approach foundational research with an industrial focus. Along with his students and collaborators, Dapino has authored 250 technical articles and book chapters while serving as primary advisor on over 50 dissertations and theses.

In addition to this distinction from SPIE, Dapino’s impact can be seen in his many other accomplishments. Among several recognitions, he is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and is recipient of the ASME Adaptive Structures and Material Systems Award and the ASME Gary Anderson Early Achievement Award.

He has also received the Ohio State University Harrison Award for Excellence in Engineering Education and the Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award from the OSU Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

“SPIE has been supporting the smart materials community since the birth of the field in the early 1990s,” Dapino said. “I am honored to be recognized by SPIE and grateful to the colleagues from multiple universities who initiated and supported my Fellow nomination.”

SPIE will honor 72 new Fellows of the Society this year. Fellows are Members of distinction who have made significant scientific and technical contributions in the multidisciplinary fields of optics, photonics, and imaging. They are honored for their technical achievement and for their service to the general optics community and to SPIE in particular.