News & Events

Provost Emeritus Brian J. Thompson named Engineer of the Year

May 4, 2012

At its 110th annual gala held April 28 at the Rochester Riverside Conference Center, the Rochester Engineering Society named Dr. Thompson 2011’s Engineer of the Year. This title – for which he was one of four esteemed finalists – is now the latest among many he has held over his more than 40-year career.

Dr. Thompson joined the Rochester faculty in 1968, and over the decades that followed served as the William F. May Professor of Engineering, the Director of the Institute of Optics, and the Dean of Engineering. He retired as Provost in 1994, and in 2009, Trustee John Bruning established the Brian J. Thompson Professorship in Optical Engineering. Today, Dr. Thompson is also a Distinguished University Professor and a Professor Emeritus of Optics. 

Past recipients of this award from the Institute of Optics are
2009: Kevin Parker
2002: Michael Morris
1998: Duncan Moore
1997: Jay Eastman
1978: Rudolf Kingslake