The Michael Kidger Memorial Scholarship in Optical Design
The Michael Kidger Memorial Scholarship was established to honour Michael John Kidger, who passed away while on a lecture trip to Australia in 1998. The Scholarship was initiated by Tina Kidger to provide a lasting memory of Michael’s talent in the teaching of optical design. Michael was a well-respected educator, design software developer, and member of the optical science and engineering community. He leaves a legacy of sincere concern for the understanding of his students and leadership in the development of practical design software for PC’s. The award is a grant of $7,500.
Selection criteria, requirements, submission of application documents, and ranking criteria are detailed here.
Scholarship Recipients
2025: Chuan Luo
Chuan Luo is the 2025 recipient of the Michael Kidger Memorial Scholarship. While pursuing his master’s degree at the Wyant College of Optical Sciences, he focused on advancing optical system design for LiDAR and augmented reality (AR) applications. His research introduced a novel beam steering method using a Digital Micromirror Device (DMD), synchronizing pulsed lasers with micromirror transitions to achieve high-resolution, wide-angle scanning from a compact, low-cost platform, offering a breakthrough approach for miniaturized, high-performance LiDAR systems.
2024: Sherry Yi-Ting Feng
The 2024 winner of the Michael Kidger Memorial Scholarship award is Sherry YI-Ting Feng. Sherry received a BS in Optical Engineering from the National Central University in Taiwan, in June 2015. She is currently a 4th year PhD student performing research at the Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, under the supervision of Professors Thomas G. Brown and Miguel A. Alonso.
2023: Ankur Desai
The 2023 winner of the Michael Kidger Memorial Scholarship award is Ankur Desai. Ankur received a BS degree in Optical Engineering, Magna Cum Laude, Honors with Highest Distinction, from the University of Rochester in 2019. He is currently a 4th-year PhD student performing research at the Institute of Optics, University of Rochester under the supervision of Professors Duncan Moore and Greg Schmidt.
2022: David Lippman
The 2022 winner of the Michael Kidger Memorial Scholarship award is David Lippman. David received a BS in Optical Engineering from the University of Rochester in 2018. He is currently a 4th-year PhD student performing research at the Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, under the supervision of Professors Julie Bentley, Duncan Moore, and Greg Schmidt. A primary area of David’s research focuses on gradient-index (GRIN) optics, where recent innovations in fabrication have brought about a paradigm shift by enabling Freeform GRIN (F-GRIN) materials.
KIDGER SCHOLARSHIP AWARDEES International Optical Design Conference (IODC)
IODC 2017 | Denver, CO, USA
Back L-R: Ozan Cakmakci, Florian Fournier, Brian Wheelwright, Fabian Dürr, Kyle Fuerschbach
Front L-R: Jonathan Papa, Eric Schiesser, Yunfeng Nie, Liying Chen, Dewen Cheng
IODC 2023 | Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Back L-R: Ankur Desai, David Lippman, Fabian Dürr, Brian Wheelwright, Kyle Fuerschbach, Andrew Rakich
Front L-R: Nicholas Takaki, TINA KIDGER, Eric Schiesser, Jonathan Papa