Blair Unger has a BA degree from William Jewell College, Liberty, Missouri and is presently a graduate student at the Institute of Optics, University of Rochester. His doctoral advisor is Duncan Moore, Rudolf and Hilda Kingslake Professor of Optical Engineering.

Blair's research is examining diffractive and dispersive spectrographic systems for use in astronomical applications. Given that there exists no straightforward way to choose a best design for a spectrograph with a specific set of system constraints and perfomance requirements, the goal will be to find a set of constraints to allow certain low-order imaging and dispersion requirements to be met. Working within that solution space, configurations can be judged against one another for geometrical layout, sensitivity to alignment, and residual higher order aberrations. Blair plans to study new optical design methods applicable to two, three or more mirrors or refractive elements combined with existing grating designs.

As part of his past and ongoing efforts, Blair has worked on a DARPA sponsored Very High Efficiency Solar Cell (VHESC) project and as a student co-op at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center on the planned James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).